WLF
Stl
'-... ;
HISTORY
OF THE
AMERICAN REVOLUTION,
fc
FIRST PUBLISHED IN LONDON UNDER THE SUPERINTENDENCE
OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE DIFFUSION OF USEFUL
KNOWLEDGE.
IMPROVED WITH
MAPS AND OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS.
ALSO
REVISED AND ENLARGED,
BY REV. J. L. JJLAKE, D. D.
AUTHOR OF « SKETCHES OF AMERICAN HISTORY."
NEW Y O,R,K;, . .. , , \
PUBLISHED BY ALEXANDER V. BLAKE,
No. 77 FULTON-STREET.
18H
Entered according to the Act of Congress, - the year 1843;
BY ALEXANDER V. BLAKE,
fn the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern
District of New York.
: " "' ' ' ' '
c'i New York
ADVERTISEMENT.
It is stated, on the title page, that this work was first
published in London under the superintendence of the
Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. Such
is its character for impartiality and accuracy and
correct diction, th it several editions of it have been
published in this country without alteration. In the
present edition, where more minute details were judged
desirable, additions have been made which amount to
about one fifth of the whole volume. These additions
are partly incorporated into the text, and are partly in
the form of notes. The pictorial illustrations will also
be esteemed a great improvement, whether it is to be
used as a class-book for study in schools, or as a read
ing book in families. The distinctive merits of the
original work were presented, in the first American
edition, published at Boston, 1832, under the following
classification.
First — It is the most brief, concise, and distinct nar
rative of the principal events of the American Revolu
tion, known to exist.
Second — It possesses an uninterrupted continuity of
interest from the first to the last, without embellishment
and with no other alteration than a plain recital of his
torical facts.
Third — It communicates facts in which persons of
&•<!! !71
IV ADVERTISEMENT.
all ages have an interest, in a style simple enough to
satisfy the young, and substantial enough to gratify the
mature and cultivated.
Fourth — The facts are collected and published under
the sanction of a society composed of men most emi
nent for their learning and station among every class
of the citizens of Great Britain, of whom Mr. Brougham,
the Lord Chancellor, was chairman, and therefore to
them no undue partiality for the cause of this country
during the struggle for independence can be imputed.
Fifth — Although the occasion was one of the most
justifiable for war that ever has or can arise, and the
contest was continued by high and honorable minds
under the severest trials of disappointment, self-denial,
and suffering, (the surest tests of principle,) still the
detail of devastation, murder, and personal revenge is
sufficiently conspicuous throughout the whole, to give
the contest the peculiar malignity of a civil war, and to
make the young and the reflecting mir?£ shudder even
at what may be termed a glorious w&r.
NEW YORK, October, 1843,
CONTENTS.
Page.
Settlement of British America. . . . 7
War of Seventeen Hundred and Fifty-six. - 14
Resolution of the House of Commons, 10th of
March, 1764 19
Stamp-act, March 22d, 1765 23
Repeal of the Stamp-act, 10th of March, 1766. 29
New Attempt at Taxation 29
Petition and Remonstrance, 1773. ... 45
Boston Port-act, and Repeal of the Charter of
Massachusetts 55
Removal of the Seat of Government from Boston. 68
First Acts of the Assembly at Concord. 71
Opening of Congress at Philadelphia. 76
Address of the House of Commons, 9th Feb. 1775. 80
Affair at Lexington, 19th of April, 1775. 92
Battle of Bunker Hill, 16th of June, 1775. - 96
Union of the Thirteen Provinces. Hancock ap
pointed President, and Washington Com
mander-in-chief. ..... 101
Invasion of Canada. Death of Montgomery. - 105
Evacuation of Boston, March 17th, 1776. - 108
Declaration of Independence, 4th of July, 1776. 116
-Capture of Long Island, 26th of August, 1776. 128
1*
Vl CONTENTS.
Page
Evacuation of New York, 1st of September, 1776. 132
Battle of Trenton, 28th of December, 1776. - 135
Capture of Philadelphia, 26th of September, 1776. 142
Burgoyne's Expedition. .... 146
Failure of Burgoyne. ..... 153
Convention of Saratoga, 13th of October, 1777. 161
Treaty with France, 6th of February, 1778. - 164
Rejection of Lord North's Overtures, June, 1778. 169
Arrival of the French Fleet 180
Campaign of 1779 184
Siege and Capture of Charleston, May 12, 1780. 193
Defeat of Gates by Cornwallis, 15th of Aug. 1780. 198
Arrival of the French under Rochambeau. - 208
Treason of Arnold, and Death of Andre. - 212
Campaign of 1781. Defeat of Greene by Lord
Cornwallis 221
Campaign of 1781 continued. Defeat of Lord
Rawdon by General Greene. - 228
Further Events of the Campaign. Preparations
for the Siege of New York. 235
Siege of Yorktown. Surrender of Cornwallis. - 241
Provisional Treaty of Peace. - 245
Conclusion. ... ... 249
AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
SECTION I.
SETTLEMENT OF BRITISH AMERICA.
THE discovery of the western hemisphere,
effected by the bold and persevering genius
of Christopher Columbus, in the year 1492,
gave a new impulse to European activity ;
and the splendid conquests of the Spaniards
in the West Indies, and in South America,
excited the emulation of the other maritime
powers of Christendom. Our ancestors were
not dilatory in their endeavors to enter upon
this new path to glory and wealth ; for we
find that, in the year 1498, John Cabot, by
virtue of a commission from Henry VII., took
formal possession, in the name of that mon
arch, of a considerable portion of the conti
nent of North America.
No attempt, however, was made to estab
lish a colony in that country till the reign of
Queen Elizabeth, when Sir Humphrey Gil
bert and Sir Walter Raleigh, in the years
1573 and 1584, formed settlements there,
S A^ERIC'AN' REVOLUTION.
which were soon wasted by famine, by dis
ease, and by the arrows of the natives, who,
as heathens, were counted as nothing in the
royal grants under which the adventurers
acted. The first permanent British settlement
was established in the reign of King James
L, under whose auspices a company of adven
turers built Jamestown, on the northern side
of James river. This colony, however, con
tinued for a long time in a feeble state. It
was founded A. D. 1607; and, though it re
ceived continual accessions of new settlers, its
population, in the year 1670, amounted to no
more than 40,000 souls.
The Virginian colonists were prompted to
quit their native country by the hope of bet
tering their temporal condition. A higher
motive gave rise to the colonization of the
northern portion of the new continent. After
the passing of the Act of Uniformity, in the
reign of Elizabeth, the Puritans had suffered
grievous persecution ; to escape from which
a small body of them had fled, in the year
1606, into Holland. Unwilling, however, en
tirely to sever themselves from the land which
gave them birth, they applied to their sover
eign, King James, beseeching him to permit
them to establish themselves in his North
American dominions, in the full exercise of
liberty in religious matters.
With this their request, in its full extent,
James refused to comply. All that they could
AMERICAN REVOLUTION".
9
obtain from him was a promise that he would
connive at their infringements of the statutes,
the operation of which had driven them into
voluntary exile. On the faith of the royal
word to this effect, they embarked, to the
number of 101, in the month of September,
1620, and arriving at Cape Cod in the follow
ing November, soon afterwards fixed them
selves in a place of settlement which they
called New Plymouth, and which, it must be
observed to their honor, they purchased from
the natives.
Landing of the Fathers.
The whole number of emigrants was 101,
viz. : 41 men, 18 women, and the rest were
10 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
children and servants, of whom 40 died with
in three months from the day of their landing.
Dreadful were the difficulties with which
this handful of religionists had to struggle ;
landing as they did in the depth of winter,
and exposed as they were, notwithstanding
their conciliatory disposition, to the hostility
of the natives. But, supported by the princi
ples of piety, and determined at any price to
purchase religious freedom, they maintained
their ground ; and being from time to time
recruited by new migrations of their persecu
ted brethren, they, by degrees, spread them
selves over the province of Massachusetts.
It too often happens that religion produces
dissension, and that those who have suffered
persecution, when they have obtained power,
become persecutors themselves. This was
the case with the principal inhabitants of the
colony of Massachusetts. Falling into the
•common error of the times, in thinking that
uniformity of sentiment on the subject of re
ligious doctrines was required by the truth of
the gospel, and by a regard to the peace and
welfare of society, they established it as a
rule of government, " that no man should be
admitted to the freedom of their body politic,
but such as were members of some of their
churches ;" and they afterwards passed a
resolution, " that none but such should share
in the administration of civil government, or
.have a voice in any election."
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. II
Tn this instance, however, as in many oth
ers, evil was productive of good. The dis
contented sectarians sought other settlements,
and founded the colonies of Connecticut,
Rhode Island, and New Hampshire.
While the once persecuted Protestants thus
gave a sad proof that their sufferings had not
taught them mercy, it was reserved for a
Roman Catholic nobleman to give to the new
world a striking example of this happy docili
ty. In the year 1632, Lord Baltimore obtain
ed a charter for a new colony, the first settlers
of which consisted chiefly of Roman Catholic
gentlemen ; and, having established his band
of emigrants in Maryland, he so exerted his
influence with the members of the assembly
of the new province, that they laid it down
as a fundamental principle of their constitu
tion, " that no persons professing to believe in
Christ Jesus should be molested in respect of
their religion, or in the free exercise thereof.'*
His lordship's enlightened policy was eminent
ly successful. Under the nurture of religious
liberty, his infant settlement soon advanced
rapidly towards maturity.
In the reign of Charles II. , royal charters
of the most liberal tenor were granted to Con
necticut, Rhode Island, and Providence Plan
tations ; and patents were also granted to
Lord Clarendon and the Duke of York, be
stowing on the former a right to form planta
tions in the district now comprehending North
12 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
and South Carolina and Georgia, and dele
gating to the latter the same right as respect
ing New York and New Jersey ; and finally,
a patent was issued, authorizing the celebra
ted William Penn to colonize Pennsylvania
and Delaware.
The English emigrants who settled in North
America were a class of people very different
from the Spaniards, who subdued the southern
continent. They did not leave their native
shores for the purpose of invading and plun
dering rich provinces and wealthy cities ; but
they sought prosperity by the painful arts of
industry and economy. Purchasing land from
the aborigines, they at first devoted themselves
to the culture of the soil ; and in process of
time, those who continued to reside on the
sea-shore, or on the banks of navigable rivers,
addicted themselves to commerce. Their suc
cess in this pursuit is evinced by the fact, that
though in the year 1704 the imports of the
province of Pennsylvania amounted only to
£11,499 sterling, in 1772 they were increased
to the value of £507,909, and in the same year
the whole of the exports from Great Brit
ain to her North American colonies amount
ed to upwards of £6,000,000 sterling.
Though each colony had its separate consti
tution, the principles of freedom pervaded
them all. In some provinces the governors
and the magistrates were elected by the peo
ple ; and in those, the governors and chief
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 1$
officers of which were appointed by the
crown, the power of these functionaries was
controlled by assemblies, the members of
which were chosen by the freeholders, who
were too numerous to be bribed, and too in
dependent in their circumstances to be swayed
by influence. Throughout the whole of the
Union there was not found a single proprietor
of a borough, nor an interest to nurture the
principles of bigotry and passive obedience.
When the first settlers took possession of the
country, they brought with them all the rights
of Englishmen, and those rights they were
jealous in maintaining. Their interior con
cerns were regulated by their representatives
in assembly ; but in consideration of their
origin, and of the protection against foreign
enemies, which they received from the mother
country, they cheerfully submitted to the ob
ligation of exclusively trading with her, and
of being bound by all the laws touching com
merce, which might be passed by the British
parliament. The limits of the authority of
parliament they were not critical in canvass
ing, with one exception — namely, claiming to
be independent of that body in the matter of
internal taxation. They maintained, con
formably to one of the most established
principles of the British constitution, that an
assembly in which they were not repre
sented had no right to burden them with im
posts.
2
14 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
The leading element in the early colonial
character, and perhaps the strongest in giving
it its peculiar cast of austerity and elevation,
was religious enthusiasm. Many believed
themselves under the immediate direction of
heaven. The stern traits of the English
Puritans, so remarkable in the civil wars of
the first Charles, and under the common
wealth, were strong in the pilgrims of Ply
mouth Rock. These traits of character, in
their descendants, under the benign influence
of a better knowledge and wider freedom, are
much softened, but still exist ; and, under cir
cumstances favorable to their development,
stand forth in great prominence.
SECTION II.
WAR OF SEVENTEEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY-SIX.
The growing power of the British colonies
in America was strikingly evinced in the year
1745, when a force of 5,000 men, raised and
equipped by the single state of Massachu
setts, and acting in concert with a British
armament from the West Indies, took Louis-
bourg from the French. The success of this
expedition so much excited the jealousy of
the government of France, that, after the
termination of the war in which Louisbourg
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 15
was taken, they dispossessed the Ohio Com
pany of the settlements which it had formed
on the river of that name, alleging that the
territory in question was part of the domin
ions of his Most Christian Majesty.
It was on this occasion that George Wash
ington, then a major in the Virginian militia,
first drew his sword in hostility. At the
head of three hundred men he defeated a
party of French ; but being afterwards at
tacked by a superior force, he was obliged
to surrender, receiving, however, honorable
terms of capitulation.
A war with France now seeming inevita
ble, a general meeting of the governors and
leading members of the provincial assemblies
was held at Albany, in the state of New
York. This meeting proposed, as the result
of its deliberations, "that a grand council
should be formed, of members to be chosen
by the provincial assemblies ; which council,
together with a governor to be appointed by
the crown, should be authorized to make gen
eral laws, and also to raise money from all
the colonies, for their common defence.
The British government seem to have view
ed this proposal with jealousy, as a step
towards independence. They disapproved of
the projected mode of the election of the
members of the council ; nor were they sat
isfied with the plan of raising the requisite
supplies by acts of the colonial legislatures :
16 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
and they proposed that " the governors of all
the colonies, attended by one or two members
of their respective councils, should, from time
to time, concert measures for the whole colo
nies ; erect forts and raise troops, with a pow
er to draw upon the British treasury in the
first instance ; but to be ultimately reimbursed
by a tax to be laid on the colonies by act of
parliament."
This counter proposal was strenuously op
posed by the colonists, who refused to trust
their interests to governors and members of
councils, since' almost the whole of the former,
and the great majority of the latter, were
nominated by the crown. As to the plan of
raising taxes in the colonies by the authority
of the British parliament, they rejected it in
the most peremptory manner. In the discus
sions which took place on this occasion, Dr.
Franklin took an active part, and in a letter
to Mr. Shirley, governor of Massachusetts, as
Dr. Ramsay observes, " he anticipated the
substance of a controversy which for twenty
years employed the pens, tongues, and swords
of both countries."
In his correspondence with the governor,
the American patriot intimated his apprehen
sion, that excluding the people from all share
in the choice of the grand council, would give
extreme dissatisfaction, as well as the taxing
them by act of parliament, where they have
no representation. " It is," observes he, with
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 17
equal candor and good sense — "it is very
possible that this general government might
be as well and faithfully administered with
out the people as with them ; but where
heavy burdens are to be laid upon them, it
has been found useful to make it, as much as
possible, their own act ; for they bear better,
when they have, or think they have, some
share in the direction ; and when any public
measures are generally grievous, or even dis
tasteful to the people, the wheels of govern
ment move more heavily."
On the subject of the general characters of
the governors of the colonies, to whom it was
thus intended to delegate extraordinary pow
ers, Dr. Franklin thus expressed himself, in
terms well worthy the attention of all minis
ters who are invested with the appointment
of such functionaries ; — " Governors often
come to the colonies merely to make fortunes,
with which they intend to return to Britain ;
are not always men of the best abilities or in
tegrity ; have many of them no estates here,
nor any natural connection with us, that
should make them heartily concerned for our
welfare ; and might possibly be fond of rais
ing and keeping up more forces than neces
sary, from the profits accruing to themselves,
and to make provision for their friends and
dependants."
The opposition which their project experi
enced induced the British government to with-
2*
18 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
draw it, and the colonies and the mother coun
try for some time longer acted together in
union and harmony. The consequence of
this was, that under the vigorous administra
tion of Mr. Pitt, the war, begun in 1756, was
terminated by a treaty signed in 1763; ac
cording to the articles of which, Canada was
ceded to great Britain by France, and the two
Floridas by Spain.
The North American colonies, in general,
entered into the war of 1756 with such zeal,
that some of them advanced funds for its
prosecution to a greater amount than the
quota which had been demanded of them by
the British government. Others of them, how
ever, the state of Maryland for instance, had,
from local and accidental causes neglected to
contribute their share to the requisite sup
plies. This circumstance, in all probability,
led British statesmen to wish to establish a
system, by means of which the resources of
the colonies might be made available without
the necessity of the concurrence of their local
legislatures.
Accordingly, Mr. Pitt is said to have told
Dr. Franklin that, " when the war closed, if
he should be in the ministry, he would take
measures to prevent the colonies from having
a power to refuse or delay the supplies which
might be wanting for national purposes."
This declaration is certainly at variance with
the doctrines which Mr. Pitt maintained when
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 19
the question of colonial taxation was after
wards discussed in parliament. But at the
latter period that great statesman was no
longer minister ; and he is not the only poli
tician who has held different language when
in and when out of power.
SECTION III.
RESOLUTIONS OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, TENTH OF
MARCH, 1764.
Whatever might be the motives of their
conduct, the British ministry, in the year 1764,
began to manifest a narrow and jealous policy
towards the North American colonies. For a
long series of years the commerce of the east
ern states had been most beneficially extended
to the Spanish and French colonies ; to which
they transported great quantities of British
manufactures, the profits on the sale of which
were divided between themselves and their
correspondents in the mother country. This
course of trade, though not repugnant to the
spirit of the navigation laws, was contrary to
their letter.
Of this the British ministry took advantage ;
and by the activity of their revenue cutters,
they put a stop to the traffic in question, to
20 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
the detriment and ruin of many merchants,
not only in America, but also in Great Britain.
In September, 1764, indeed, they caused an
act to be passed, authorizing the trade be
tween the North Americans and the French
and Spanish colonies, but loading it with such
duties as amounted to a prohibition, and pre
scribing that all offenders against the act
should be prosecuted in the Court of Admiral
ty, where they were deprived of a trial by
jury.
As an accumulation of the grievances which
the colonists felt from this act, its preamble
contained the following words of fearful
omen : " Whereas it is just and necessary that
a revenue be raised in America for defraying
the expenses of defending, protecting, and
securing the same, we, the Commons, &c.,
towards raising the same, give and grant
unto your Majesty," &c.
It is believed by competent judges that the
colonists, however disposed to resent this en
croachment on their constitutional rights,
would have submitted without resistance to
the provisions of the act as regulations of
trade and commerce. But the ministry soon
took a bolder step, by proceeding to impose a
direct internal tax upon the colonies by au
thority of parliament. This measure was vin
dicated on the following grounds, that the
pressure of the payment of the interest of the
national debt weighed so heavily on the Brit-
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 21
isli community, that it was expedient that by
every proper means this burden should be
lightened ; that a considerable portion of this
debt had been contracted in the furnishing of
supplies for the defence of the North Ameri
can colonies ; that it was just and reasonable
that those colonies should contribute their
proportion towards its liquidation ; and that
the authority of parliament was competent to
bind them so to do.
The idea of relieving the public burdens
by the taxation of distant colonies was, of
course, very popular throughout the British
nation ; and so little was the right of parlia
ment to impose such taxation at first question
ed in Britain, that on the 10th of March, 1764,
a resolution to the following effect passed the
House of Commons, without any rjemark — •
" That towards further defraying the said ex
penses, it may be proper to charge certain
stamp duties in the said colonies and planta
tions." Nothing, however, was immediately
done in pursuance of this resolution ; as min
isters were in hopes that the apprehension of
the passing of an act founded on it would in
duce the colonists to raise a sum equivalent
to the expected produce of such act, by bills
passed in their respective legislative assem
blies: but in these hopes they were disap
pointed.
When intelligence of the resolution for
laying a tax on stamps arrived in America,
22 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
the colonists were filled with alarm and in
dignation. They declared internal taxation
of the colonies by the authority of parliament
to be an innovation and an infringement on
their rights and liberties. If parliament was
authorized to levy one tax upon them, it was
authorized to levy a thousand. Where, then,
was the security of their property, or what
protection could they expect for their dearest
interests, from a body of men who were ig
norant of their circumstances ; between whom
and themselves there was no bond of sympa
thy, and who, indeed, had a direct interest in
removing the weight of taxation from their
own shoulders to those of the colonists ? They
were entitled, they affirmed, to all the rights
of British subjects, of which the most valua
ble was exemption from all taxes, save those
w^hich should be imposed upon them by their
own freely chosen and responsible represen
tatives. Influenced by the feelings and mo
tives implied in these declarations, instead of
passing tax bills, they voted petitions and
remonstrances to parliament and to the
throne.
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 28
SECTION IV.
STAMP-ACT, MARCH 22, 1765.
The supplications and complaints of the
colonists were disregarded. In the month of
March, 1765, a bill for laying a duty on stamps
in America was brought into the House of
Commons by Mr. Grenville. This bill was
supported by Mr. Charles Townsend, who is
reported to have concluded his speech in its
favor, in the following words : — " And now
will these Americans — children planted by
our care, nourished up by our indulgence, till
they are grown to a degree of strength and
opulence, and protected by our arms — will
they grudge to contribute their mite to relieve
us from the heavy weight of that burden
which we lie under ?"
To this invidious appeal to the pride and
the prejudices of the members of the House
of Commons, Colonel Barre thus energetically
replied :
" They planted by your care ! No ! your op
pressions planted them in America. They
fled from your tyranny to a then uncultivated
and inhospitable country, where they exposed
themselves to almost all the hardships to
which human nature is liable, and, among
others, to the cruelty of a savage foe, the most
24 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
subtle, and, I will take upon me to say, the
most formidable of any people upon the face
of God's earth ; and yet, actuated by princi
ples of true English liberty, they met all
hardships with pleasure, compared with those
they suffered in their own country, from the
hands of those who should have been their
friends.
" They nourished up by your indulgence !
they grew by your neglect of them. As soon
as you began to care for them, that care was
exercised in sending persons to rule them in
one department and another, who were, per
haps, the deputies of deputies to some mem
bers of this House, sent to spy out their liber
ties, to misrepresent their actions, and to prey
upon them — men whose behavior, on many
occasions, has caused the blood of those sons
of liberty to recoil within them — men pro
moted to the highest seats of justice ; some
who, to my knowledge, were glad, by go
ing to a foreign country, to escape being
brought to the bar of a court of justice in their
own.
" They protected by your arms ! they have
nobly taken up arms in your defence, have
exerted their valor, amidst their constant and
laborious industry, for the defence of a coun
try whose frontier was drenched in blood,
while its interior parts yielded all its little
savings to your emolument. And, believe
me, remember I this day told you so, that
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 25
same spirit of freedom which actuated that
people at first, will accompany them still ;
but prudence forbids me to explain myself
further. God knows I do not at this time
speak from any motives of party heat ; what
I deliver are the genuine sentiments of my
heart.
" However superior to me, in general know
ledge and experience, the respectable body of
this House may be, yet I claim to know more
of America than most of you, having seen,
and been conversant with that country. The
people, I believe, are as truly loyal as any
subjects the king has, but a people jealous of
their liberties, and who will vindicate them
if ever they should be violated. But the sub
ject is too delicate — I will say no more."
In the House of Lords the bill met with no
opposition ; and on the 22d of March it re
ceived the royal assent.* In adopting the
stamp-act as a method of taxing the colonies,
ministers flattered themselves that the nullity
of all transactions in which the stamps pre
scribed by the new law were not used would
insure its execution. In this confidence they
* The night after the passage of the stamp-act, Franklin
wrote from London to his friend Charles Thompson, after
wards the Secretary of Congress — " The sun of Liberty is
set — the Americans must light up the lamps of industry and
economy." The heroism of the revolution spoke in Mr.
Thompson's pithy answer : " Be assured we shall light up
torches of another sort."
3
26 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
postponed the commencement of its operation
to the month of November, 1765.
This was a fatal error, on their part. Had
they prescribed its enforcement immediately
on its arrival in America, the colonists might,
in their consternation, have been awed into
compliance with its provisions ; but the long*
interval between its arrival and its execution,
gave them ample time to organize their op
position against it. Of this they fully availed
themselves. On the 28th of May, the assem
bly of Virginia passed strong resolutions
against the stamp-act, the substance of which
was readily adopted by the other provincial
legislatures. Popular pamphlets were pub
lished in abundance, in reprobation of the
power thus assumed by the British parlia
ment ; and the proprietors of newspapers,
whose journals were destined to be burdened
with a stamp duty, raised against the obnox
ious statute a cry which resounded from Mas
sachusetts to Georgia. The oppressive meas
ures of ministers were canvassed in town-
meetings and in every place of public resort ;
and the limits of the obedience due to the
parent country were freely and boldly dis
cussed in every company.
In these proceedings the colony of Virginia
led the way, by passing, in the House of Bur
gesses, at the motion of Mr. Patrick Henry,
the following resolutions: — 1st. "That the
first adventurers — settlers of this his majesty's
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 27
colony and dominion of Virginia — brought
with them, and transmitted to their posterity,
and all other his majesty's subjects, since in
habiting in this his majesty's said colony, all
the liberties, privileges, and immunities that
have at any time been held, enjoyed, and
possessed by the people of Great Britain."
2dly. " That by two royal charters, granted
by King James L, the colonies aforesaid are
declared to be entitled to all liberties privi
leges, and immunities of denizens, and natural
subjects, to all intents and purposes, as if they
had been abiding and born within the realm
of England."
3dly. " That his majesty's liege people of
this his ancient colony have enjoyed the right
of being thus governed by their own assem
bly, in the article of taxes and internal police,
and that the same has never been forfeited
or yielded up, but been constantly recognised
by the king and people of Britain."
4thly. " Resolved, therefore, that the gen
eral assembly of this colony, together with his
majesty or his substitutes, have, in their repre
sentative capacity, the only exclusive right
and power to lay taxes and imposts upon the
inhabitants of this colony, and that every at
tempt to vest such power in any other person
or persons whatsoever than the general as
sembly aforesaid, is illegal, unconstitutional,
and unjust, and hath a manifest tendency to
destroy British as well as American liberty."
28 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
5thly. "Resolved, that his majesty's liege
people, the inhabitants of this colony, are not
bound to yield obedience to any law or ordi*
nance whatever, designed to impose any taxa
tion whatever upon them, other than the
laws or ordinances of the general assembly
aforesaid."
Gthty. "Resolved, that any person who shall,
by speaking or writing, assert or maintain
that any person or persons, other than the
general assembly of this colony, have any
right or power to impose, or lay any taxation
on the people here, shall be deemed an enemy
to this his majesty's colony."
The heat engendered by the debates, which
in various colonies issued in resolutions to the
tenor of the foregoing, at length broke out in
acts of violence. The populace of Boston at
tacked the houses of the officers of govern
ment, and destroyed their furniture. Similar
excesses took place in some of the other colo
nies ; and the general antipathy of the public
against the act sheltered the perpetrators of
these outrages from punishment.
These ebullitions were followed by more
regular and more effective proceedings on the
part of the American patriots. On the Oth of
June the assembly of Massachusetts, sensible
of the necessity of union to the maintenance
of their rights and liberties, invited the other
colonial legislative bodies to send deputies to
a general congress to be holden at New York
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 29
on the second Tuesday of October, for the
purpose of deliberating on the steps necessary
to be taken in the existing circumstances.
This summons was readily answered by all
the colonies except those of Virginia, North
Carolina, and Georgia, which, however, hearti
ly approved of the purposed measures, but
were prevented by their respective govern
ors from meeting for the purpose of electing
deputies to attend the congress. The repre
sentatives of nine colonies met at the time
and place appointed, and after mature delib
eration agreed upon a declaration of their
rights and a statement of their grievances,
and also drew up and signed petitions to the
king and to both houses of parliament. Simi
lar steps were taken individually by the colo
nies which had been prevented from sending
deputies to the congress.
SECTION V.
REPEAL OF THE STAMP-ACT, TENTH OP MARCH,
1766. NEW ATTEMPT AT TAXATION, AND RE
SISTANCE TO THE SAME.
The first of November, the day on which
the stamp-act was to commence its operation,
was ushered in throughout the colonies by
3*
30 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
the funereal tolling of bells. In the course
of the day various processions and public ex
hibitions were made, all indicative of the ab
horrence in which the detested statute was
universally held. By common consent the
act was utterly disregarded, and not a stamp
was bought to legalize any transaction.
Nor did the Americans content themselves
with this sullen opposition to the measures of
ministers.* They entered into solemn reso
lutions not to import any British manufactured
goods till the stamp-act was repealed ; and
an association was formed to oppose the act
by force of arms. The latter step had no
* In some places the disaffection and excitement broke
out in tumultuous violence. In August several riots oc-
curred in the town of Boston, in which much valuable pro
perty was destroyed, notwithstanding the earnest efforts of
the great body of the citizens to discountenance and depress
them. The effigy of Oliver, the proposed distributer of
stamps, was publicly gibbeted in the streets of the town, on.
an elm-tree, afterwards known as " Liberty Tree." His
office was torn down, his house mobbed, and great injury
done to his furniture. He was compelled to decline the ap
pointment, and forced, some time after, to repeat the pledge
at the foot of the tree.
In Providence, R. I., effigies of the stamp collectors, and
those who favored Britain, were hung and burnt — and in
Newport the house of one of them destroyed in the popular
fury. In New York the act was contemptuously cried about
the streets, as " The Folly of England, and the Ruin of
America." The stamp distributer resigned, and the stamp
papers were seized and destroyed. When the vessels con
taining the stamp paper approached Philadelphia, the vessels
in the harbor hoisted flags at half-mast, and the bells were
muffled and tolled, as for a public calamity.
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 31
immediate effect ; but the non-importation
agreement brought such distress upon the
British manufacturers that they besieged par
liament with petitions against the measures
which had been adopted for the taxing of the
colonies.
Thus assailed by the clamors of the colo
nists, and by the complaints of the suffering
British merchants, his majesty's government,
at the head of which was now placed the
Marquis of Rockingham, for a time wavered
at the view of the unpleasant alternative
which was set before them, of either repeal
ing or enforcing the obnoxious statute. The
former measure was grating to the pride of
the nation at large, and the latter evidently
involved in its prosecution the danger of a
civil war. During this period of hesitation,
the state of the colonies was frequently dis
cussed in parliament.
It was, in particular, the prominent subject
of debate at the opening of the session on the
17th of December, 1765. On this occasion
Mr. Pitt seems to have exerted all the ener
gies of his powerful mind to avert the mis
chiefs which he beheld impending over his
country. " It is a long time, Mr. Speaker,"
said he, " since I have attended in parliament.
When the resolution was taken in the House
to tax America, I was ill in bed. If I could
have endured to have been carried in my bed,
so great was the agitation of my mind for the
32 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
consequences, I would have solicited some
kind hand to have laid me down on this floor,
to have borne my testimony against it.
" It is now an act that has passed ; I would
speak with decency of every act of this House,
but I must beg the indulgence of the House
to speak of it with freedom. I hope a day
may be soon appointed to consider the state
of the nation with respect to America. I
hope gentlemen will come to this debate with
all the temper and impartiality that his ma
jesty recommends, and the importance of the
subject requires — a subject of greater import
ance than ever engaged the attention of this
House, that subject only excepted, when,
nearly a century ago, it was the question
whether you yourselves were to be bound or
free. In the mean time, as I cannot depend
upon health for any future day, such is the
nature of my infirmities, I will beg to say a
few words at present, leaving the justice, the
equity, the policy, the expediency of the act
to another time. I will only speak to one
point — a point which seems not to have been,
generally understood — I mean to the right.
" Some gentlemen seem to have considered
it as a point of honor. If gentlemen consider
it in that light, they leave all measures of
right and wrong, to follow a delusion that
may lead to destruction. It is my opinion
that this kingdom has no right to lay a tax
upon the colonies. At the same time I assert
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 33
the authority of this kingdom over the colonies
to be sovereign and supreme in every circum
stance of government and legislation whatso
ever. They are the subjects of this kingdom,
equally entitled with yourselves to all the nat
ural rights of mankind, and the peculiar priv
ileges of Englishmen. Equally bound by its
laws, and equally participating of the constitu
tion of this free country, the Americans are
the sons — not the bastards of England. Taxa
tion is no part of the governing or legislative
power. The taxes are a voluntary gift and
grant of the Commons alone. Jn legislation
the three estates of the realm are alike con
cerned ; but the concurrence of the peers and
the crown to a tax is only necessary to close
with the form of a law. The gift and grant
is of the Commons alone.
" In ancient days the crown, the barons,
and the clergy possessed the lands. In those
days the barons and clergy gave and granted
to the crown. They gave and gmnted what
was their own. At present, since the discov
ery of America, and other circumstances
admitting, the Commons are become the pro
prietors of the land. The crown has divested
itself of its great estates. The church (God
bless it) has but a pittance. The property 01
the Lords, compared with that of the Com
mons, is as a drop of water in the ocean ;
and this House represents those Commons,
the proprietors of the lands ; and those pro-
34 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
prietors virtually represent the rest of the
inhabitants.
" When, therefore, in this House we give?
and grant, we give and grant what is out
own. But in an American tax what do we
do ? ' We, your majesty's Commons of Great
Britain, give and grant to your majesty' —
what ? — our own property ? — No ! We give
and grant to your majesty the property of
your majesty's Commons of America ! It is
an absurdity in terms."
" There is," said Mr. Pitt, towards the close
of his speech, " there is an idea in some, that
the colonies are virtually represented in this
House. I would fain know by whom an
American is represented here ? Is he repre
sented by any knight of the shire in any coun
ty in this kingdom ? Would to God that re
spectable representation was augmented to a
greater number ! Or will you tell him that he
is represented by any representative of a
borough — a borough which, perhaps, no man
.ever saw. This is what is called the rotten
part of the constitution. Is cannot continue
a century — if it does not drop it must be am
putated. The idea of a virtual representation
of America in this House is the most con
temptible idea that ever entered into the head
of a man."
Mr. Pitt concluded by declaring it as his
opinion, that while the Americans were pos
sessed of the constitutional right to tax them-
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 35
selves, Great Britain, as the supreme govern
ing and legislative power, had always bound
the colonies by her laws, by her regulations
and restrictions in trade, in navigation, in
manufactures, in every thing except that of
taking their money out of their pokets with
out their consent.
Of this broad assertion, of the extent of
British power over the colonies, Mr. Grenville,
the patron of the stamp-act, took advantage,
and maintained that there was no difference
in principle between the right to impose ex
ternal and internal taxation. He asserted
that the protection from time to time afforded
to America by Britain was a just ground of
claim to obedience on the part of the latter
from the former, and asked when America
was emancipated from the allegiance which
she owed to the parent state ?
Provoked by Mr. Grenville's sophistry, and
irritated by his insolence of tone and manner,
Mr. Pitt gave utterance to the following de
claration — a declaration, no doubt, well cal
culated to animate the spirit of freedom on the
other side of the Atlantic. " The gentleman
tells us that America is obstinate ; America
is almost in open rebellion. I REJOICE THAT
AMERICA HAS RESISTED. Three millions of peo
ple, so dead to all the feelings of liberty, as
voluntarily to submit to be slaves, would have
been fit instruments to— tfiake slaves of the
rest of their fellow-subjects."
36 AMERICAN1 REVOLUTION".
Thus did Mr. Pitt plead the cause of the
colonies with all the fervor of commanding
eloquence. In the course of a few days the
same cause was maintained by Dr. Franklin,
on the plain and unadorned, but convincing
principles of common sense. In the month
of February, that celebrated philosopher was
examined at the bar of the House of Commons
touching the state of America, and the pro
bable effect upon the inhabitants of that
country of the imposition of stamp duties.
In this examination he evinced an accurate
and extensive knowledge of facts — of facts
which were calculated to convince any reason
able mind that it was morally impossible to
enforce the stamp-act in the colonies ; and
that an attempt to effect that object would
be productive of the worst consequences to
the prosperity of Britain. The train of inter
rogatories furnished, of course, by himself, af
forded him an opportunity of stating his opin-
ons in his accustomed clear and simple man
ner ; and the cross-examination which he un
derwent on the part of members hostile to the
claims of the colonies, gave an occasion for
the display of that coolness of temper and
promptitude of perception by which he was
distinguished.
His examination concluded with the follow
ing pithy questions and replies: — Q. What
used to be the pride ({f the Americans ? A. To
indulge in the fashit1,^ : and manufactures of
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 37
Great Britain. Q. What is now their pride ?
A. To wear their old clothes over again till
they can make new ones.*
The distresses of the commercial and manu
facturing interest now co-operating with par
liamentary arguments and eloquence, the new
ministers, who were not so deeply committed
as their predecessors on the subject of the
stamp-act, at length made up their mind to
give way. Before the examination of Dr.
Franklin, indeed, namely, on the 21st of Jan
uary, 1766, a motion had, under their auspices,
been made in the Commons in a committee
of the whole House to the following effect : —
" That it is the opinion of the committee,
that the House be moved, that leave be given
to bring in a bill to repeal an act passed in
the last session of parliament, entitled, * An
act for granting and applying certain stamp
duties, and other duties in the British colonies
and plantations in America towards further
defraying the expenses of defending, protect
ing, and securing the same, and for amending
such parts of the several acts of parliament
relating to the trade and revenues of the said
colonies and plantations, as direct the manner
of determining and recovering the penalties
and forfeitures therein mentioned.'"
To this resolution the advocates of the ob
noxious statute moved an amendment, by
* See note at the end of the Section.
4
38 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
which it was proposed to leave out the word
" repeal," and insert " explain and amend."
But this amendment was rejected by a ma
jority of one hundred and eighteen.
On the 24th of February, the above-men
tioned proceedings were confirmed by the
passing a resolution similar to the foregoing
one, but with a view, no doubt, of saving the
dignity of the nation and of his majesty's
government ; this second resolution was ac
companied by others, approving of the conduct
of such of the colonists as had used their best
exertions for the enforcement of the stamp-
act in America ; indemnifying those " who, by
reason of the tumults and outrages in North
America, had not been able to procure stamp
ed paper since the passing of the act for lay
ing certain duties on stamps in the colonies,
and had incurred penalties and forfeitures, by
writing, engrossing, or printing on paper, vel
lum, or parchment, not duly stamped, as re
quired by the said act."
A bill, founded on these resolutions, was
accordingly brought into the House. This
bill, after warm debates, passed both Houses
of Parliament, and received the royal assent
on the 16th of March, 1766. The ostensible
grounds for the adoption of this measure, as
expressed by preamble to the act, was the inex
pediency of the tax on stamps, and by way of
guardedly reserving the main point in ques
tion, namely, the right of the British parlia-
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 39
ment to impose internal taxes on the colonies,
the repeal act was accompanied by a declar
atory act in which it was asserted, " that the
parliament had, and of right ought to have,
power to bind the colonies in all cases what
soever."
This broad and unqualified claim on the
part of the British legislature, was little cal
culated to satisfy such of the American colo
nists as had maintained the struggle against
the British ministry upon deep and well con
sidered principle. These, no doubt, regarded
it with suspicion and dislike, as containing
the germ of future encroachments upon their
rights and privileges. But it seems to have
made little impression upon the minds of the
American public. In their joy for the repeal
of the stamp-act, and in their eagerness to
resume their ordinary occupations, the colonists
regarded it as a harmless sally of wounded
pride, and cheerfully renewed their commer
cial intercourse with the mother country.
But the evil genius of Britain still fostered
in the cabinet the idea of raising a revenue
in America. Lord Rockingham having been
superseded by the Duke of Grafton, Charles
Townsend, the then chancellor of the exche
quer, brought into the House of Commons, in
the year 1767, a bill which was quickly passed
into a law, for granting duties in the British
colonies on glass, paper, painters' colors, and
tea. This proceeding again kindled a blaze
40 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
throughout the provinces. In their estima
tion, it proved that the declaratory act was
not intended to be a dead letter, and it gave
rise to bold and acute discussions as to the
distinction between tax-bills and bills for the
regulation of trade.
To add to the alarm of the colonists, a
board of commissioners of customs was estab
lished at Boston ; which step convinced them
that the British government intended to harass
them with a multiplicity of fiscal oppressions.
They therefore again had recourse to petitions,
remonstrances, and non-importation agree
ments. The seizure of the sloop Liberty, be
longing to Mr. Hancock, a popular leader,
for an infringement of the revenue laws, in
cited the populace of Boston to renewed acts
of violence, which drove the commissioners
of the customs to take shelter in Castle Wil
liam.
To suppress this spirit of insubordination,
his majesty's ministers stationed some armed
vessels in the harbor, and quartered two regi
ments of foot in the town of Boston. The in
tention of the British government to send this
force to Boston having been announced, the
selectmen of ninety-six towns of the state of
Massachusetts met at Faneuil Hall, in that
town ; but this assembly, which had excited
great alarm among the friends of government,
merely recommended moderate measures, and
then dissolved itself. The day after the break-
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 41
ing up of this convention, the troops arrived,
and landed without opposition under the pro
tection of the guns of the armed vessels in the
harbor.
The intelligence of the refractory spirit thus
manifested by the inhabitants of Boston, pro
duced such irritation in the British parliament,
that in February, 1769, both Houses concur
red in an address to his majesty, prompting
him to vigorous measures against all persons
guilty of what they were pleased to denomi
nate treasonable acts ; and beseeching him,
in pursuance of the powers contained in an
obsolete statute of the 35th of Henry VIII., to
seize the offenders, and cause them to be tried
by a special commission within the realm of
Great Britain.
This imprudent suggestion was encounter
ed by strong resolutions on the part of the
provincial assemblies ; and the colonists again
had recourse to non-importation agreements,
and, in some instances, sent back to Great
Britain cargoes of goods which had actually
arrived. Thus the distresses of the British
manufacturers were renewed ; and ministers
were induced, by their earnest remonstrances,
to repeal all the newly imposed duties, except
that on tea. This reservation being a practi
cal assertion of the right of parliament to im
pose internal taxes on the American states,
^was very odious to the colonists, who, how
ever, relaxed their associations so far as to
4*
42 AMERICAN REVOLUTION".
allow the importation of all articles except
tea, the use of which commodity they forbore,
or supplied themselves with it by smuggling.
NOTE. — On the 10th of November, 1776, on
motion of the Duke of Richmond, that Mr.
Penn, whom he saw below the bar, should be
examined, in order to establish the authentici
ty of the petition presented by him, several
curious particulars, relative to much contro
verted subjects, came out upon the examina
tion of this gentleman.
He was personally acquainted with almost
all the members of Congress, had been gov
ernor of the colony, and resided in the city in
which they assembled and held their delibera
tions, and had every opportunity, from office,
family connection, locality of property, and an
extensive acquaintance, to obtain the fullest
information of the state of affairs in America,
as well as of the temper and disposition of the
people.
It was also evident, that his discernment
was equal to the forming a just estimate
of things ; and there could scarcely be a sus
picion of partiality in favor of any measure
which could tend to American independence,
as the great fortune of his family, if not whol
ly lost, must be much impaired by such an
event. Among the remarkable parts of his
testimony was an absolute negative to the
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 43
supposition or charge, that any design of in
dependence had been formed by the Congress.
He declared that the numbers composing
that body had been fairly elected; that they were
men of character, capable of conveying the
sense of America ; and that they had actually
conveyed the sense of their constituents ; that
the different provinces would be governed by
their decisions in all events ; that the war
•was levied and carried on by the colonists',
merely in defence of what they thought their
liberties ; that the spirit of resistance was
general, and they believed themselves able to
defend their liberties against the arms of Great
Britain ; that the colony of Pennsylvania con
tained about sixty thousand men able to carry
arms — that of these, twenty thousand had
voluntarily enrolled themselves to serve with
out pay, and were armed and embodied before
the governor's departure. Being questioned
as to the nature of that volunteer force, he said
that it included the men of best fortune and
character in the province, and that it was
generally composed of men who were pos
sessed of property, either landed or otherwise ;
that an additional body of four thousand five
hundred minute-men had since been raised in
the province, who were to be paid when called
out upon service ; that they had the means
and material of casting iron cannon in great
plenty ; that they cast brass cannon in Phila
delphia, and they made small-arms in great
44 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
abundance and perfection ; that the colonies
had been dissatisfied with the reception of
their former petitions ; but that they had
founded great hopes upon the success of that
which he brought over, that it was styled the
Olive Branch, and that he had been congratu
lated by his friends upon his being the bearer
of it ; that it was greatly to be feared, that if
conciliatory measures were not speedily pur
sued, they would form connections with foreign
powers, and that if such connections were
once formed, it would be found a matter of
great difficulty to dissolve them. Being asked,
" whether the people of the different provinces
were now in a state of freedom ?" he said that
they thought themselves so ; whether " the
most opulent inhabitants would not prefer
freedom under this country to what they now
enjoy ? he answered, that they would prefer
it to any other state of freedom ; and that,
notwithstanding their determination to sup
port the measures of the Congress, they wish
ed for a reconciliation with this country. He
denied its being an object of the Congress to
throw off the regulations of their trade, and
acknowledged that the most thinking men in
Pennsylvania were of opinion, that a refusal
of the present petition would be a bar to all
reconcilement.
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 45
SECTION VI.
PETITION AND REMONSTRANCE, 1773.
. Thus was tranquillity restored to most of
the colonies. But the presence of the troops
in the town of Boston was a perpetual source
of irritation in the province of Massachusetts.
The Bostonians regarded the soldiers with an
evil eye, as the instruments of tyranny design
ed to be used for the destruction of their liber
ties, and availed themselves of every opportu
nity which occurred to annoy and insult them.
In resisting a violent act of aggression, a party
of the military were obliged to fire on the
populace.
This event occurred on the evening of
March 5th, 1770. The particulars are as fol
lows. There was a regiment of British troops
quartered in barracks in Brattle-street, and
another regiment in Water-street. Frequent
altercations had taken place between the
soldiers and the inhabitants. On this evening
a sentinel who was stationed near the Custom
house, was assailed by a number of persons,
and a sergeant's guard was sent to his relief,
followed immediately after by Captain Pres
ton. A crowd soon assembled about the place,
and the soldiers were assaulted by missiles of
wood, and pieces of ice, and dared to fire.
46 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
The soldiers, after standing their ground for
some time, fired, as stated above, upon their
assailants. Three men in the crowd were
immediately killed, and two others were mor
tally wounded.
In times of public excitement, nothing is
more irritating to the populace, and nothing
more painful to men of cultivated minds, than
the interference of the military. When that
interference is attended with fatal conse
quences, the phrensy of the people rises to the
utmost height. Such was the case with the
inhabitants of Boston. On hearing of the
melancholy event, some obscure individuals
caused the drums to beat to arms, and the
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 47
townsmen assembled to the amount of some
thousands. They were, however, happily ap
peased by the intervention of several patriotic
leaders, whose zeal was allayed by prudence,
and in consequence of whose interference
with the lieutenant-governor the obnoxious
troops were sent out of the town. Artful
means were, however, resorted to for the
purpose of keeping alive their resentment.
On the morning of the day appointed for
the burial of the slain, most of the shops in
Boston were shut. The bells of that town,
of Charlestown, and Roxbury, rung out muf
fled peals. Mournful processions moving from
the houses of the murdered dead, as they who
had fallen by the fire of the military were
denominated, united with the corpses at the
spot where they had met their fate. Here
forming into a body, they marched six abreast,
followed by the carriages of the gentry,
through the main streets to the place of in
terment.
Immediately after the affray, which was
productive of such sad consequences, Captain
Preston, the officer who commanded the party
who had fired upon the people, had been com
mitted to prison, together with a number of
private soldiers who were implicated in that
act. The firing had taken place on the 5th
of March, and though the trial of the accused
did not take place till the following November,
there might have been reason to apprehend
48 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
that, in appearing, for a decision on a case of
life and death, before a Boston jury, they
would run the greatest hazard of falling vic
tims to infuriated prejudice.
But, in this instance, the Bostonians gave
evidence of their English descent. In capital
cases, Englishmen, in modern times at least,
have almost uniformly exercised an impartial
administration of the law. Such was the
temper which was manifested by the court
and jury on the trial of Captain Preston and
his comrades. After a patient investigation
of the case, all the prisoners were acquitted
of murder, and two, being found guilty of
manslaughter, were immediately burnt in the
hand and discharged.
It is a fact not to be omitted, that they were
defended, and zealously defended, by the cele
brated John Adams and Josiah Quincy, than
whom there did not exist more ardent advo
cates of the cause of American freedom.*
The former of these gentlemen, in warning
the jury against giving way to popular im
pressions, expressed himself in the following
energetic terms : — " The law, in all vicissitudes
of government, fluctuations of the passions,
* It is also a fact worthy of notice, that the counsel for
the crown, Samuel Quincy, Esq., solicitor-general, was the
brother of Josiah Quincy, and on the termination of the
siege of Boston, 1776, he left the country with other loya
lists, and held the office of attorney for the crown in the
island of Antigua, until his death, in 1789.
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 49
or flights of enthusiasm, will preserve a steady,
undeviating course ; it will not bend to the
uncertain wishes, imaginations, and wanton
tempers of men. To use the words of a great
and worthy man, a patriot and a hero, an en
lightened friend to mankind, and a martyr to
liberty — I mean Algernon Sidney — who, from
his earliest infancy, sought a tranquil retire
ment under the shadow of the tree of liberty,
with his tongue, his pen, and his sword —
" ' The law,' says he, ' no passion can dis
turb. It is void of desire and fear, lust and
anger. It is mens sine ajfectu ; written reason ;
retaining some measure of the divine perfec
tion. It does not enjoin that which pleases a
weak, frail man, but, without any regard to
persons, commands that which is good, and
Eunishes evil in all, whether rich or poor,
igh or low. It is deaf, inexorable, inflexi
ble.' Yes," said Mr. Adams, "on the one
hand, it is inexorable to the cries and lamen
tations of the prisoners ; on the other, it is
deaf, deaf as an adder, to the clamors of the
populace."
Notwithstanding this firmness on the part
of the counsel for the prisoners, and notwith
standing the impartiality of the jury and of
the, judge, which latter, in his summing up on
the trial of Captain Preston, did not hesitate
to say, "I feel myself deeply affected that
this affair turns out so much to the shame of
the town in general," ministers took advantage
5
50 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
of the disturbed state of the public mind, by
making it a pretext for rendering the governor
and judges of Massachusetts independent of
the province, by transferring the payment of
their salaries from the assembly to the crown,
In consequence of this proceeding, Governor
Hutchinson, who had never been popular, be
came still more than ever an object of dislike.
Such being the disposition of the people of
Massachusetts towards their chief magistrate,
their indignation against him was raised to the
highest pitch in the year 1773 by an incident,
the consequences of which had a most unhap
py aspect on the fortunes of Great Britain.
The servants of government naturally look
with a jealous eye upon the bold assertors of
popular rights ; and as naturally imagine that
they shall most gratify their masters by the
recommendation of a steady and active resist
ance against what they are apt to deem the
encroachments of popular claims.
In this spirit Mr. Hutchinson and Mr. Oliver,
the former the governor and the latter lieu
tenant-governor of the colony of Massachu
setts, had addressed some letters to individuals
•who had put them into the hands of his ma
jesty's ministers, in which letters they vitupe
rated the American patriots, called upon gov
ernment to adopt more vigorous measures t han
they had hitherto done in support of their au
thority, recommended restraints upon liberty
and an infringement of charters, and even the
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 51
* taking off" of the principal opponents to
British domination.
These letters having come into the posses
sion of Dr. Franklin, he thought it his duty,
as agent of the House of Representatives of
Massachusetts, to send them to his constituents.
Their perusal excited, as might have been
expected, the indignation of the assembly, the
members of which unanimously resolved,
" That the tendency and design of the said
letters was to overthrow the constitution of
this government, and to introduce arbitrary
power into the province ;" and, moreover,
passed a vote, " that a petition should be im
mediately sent to the king, to remove the
governor, Hutchinson, and the lieutenant-
governor, Oliver, for ever from the govern
ment of the province."
Dr. Franklin, after having transmitted the
petition in question to Lord Dartmouth, the
then Colonial Secretary, appeared to support
it in person at the Council Chamber on the
llth of January, 1774; but, finding that he
was to be encountered by counsel employed
on behalf of the accused functionaries, he
prayed that the hearing of the case might be
adjourned for the space of three weeks, which
was granted him. In the mean time specula
tion was all alive as to the means by which
Dr. Franklin had obtained possession of the
letters ; and a Mr. Whateley and a Mr. Tem
ple, both connected with the colonial office,
52 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
mutually suspecting each other of the unfaith
ful communication of them, a correspondence
took place between those gentlemen, which
ended in a duel, in which Mr. Whateley was
dangerously wounded.
For the prevention of further mischief of
this sort, Dr. Franklin published, in the " Pub
lic Advertiser," a letter exonerating both the
combatants from blame in this case, and tak
ing the whole responsibility of the procuring
the documents on himself. When the doctor
appeared again before the council in support
of the Massachusetts petition, he was assailed
by Mr. Wedderburne, who acted for the gov
ernor and the lieutenant-governor, in terms of
most elaborate abuse.
"The letters," said the caustic advocate,
" could not have come to Dr. Franklin by fair
means. The writers did not give them to him,
nor yet did the deceased correspondent. No
thing, then, will acquit Dr. Franklin of the
charge of obtaining them by fraudulent or
corrupt means, for the most malignant of pur
poses ; unless he stole them from the person
that stole them. This argument is irrefraga
ble.
" I hope, my lords, you will mark and
brand the man, for the honor of this country,
of Europe, and of mankind. Private corres
pondence has hitherto been held sacred in
times of the greatest party rage, not only in
politics, but religion. He has forfeited all the
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 58
respect of societies and of men. Into what
companies will he hereafter go with an un
embarrassed face, or the honest intrepidity of
virtue ? Men will watch him with a jealous
eye — they will hide their papers from him,
and lock up their escritoirs. He will hence
forth esteem it a libel to be called a man of
letters — homo trium literarum.* But he not
only took away the letters from one brother,
but kept himself concealed till he nearly oc
casioned the murder of the other.
" It is impossible to read his account, ex
pressive of the coolest and most deliberate
malice, without horror. Amidst these tragical
events, of one person nearly murdered, of an
other answerable for the issue, of a worthy
governor hurt in his dearest interests, the fate
of America in suspense, — here is a man, who,
with the utmost insensibility of remorse, stands
up and avows himself the author of all. I
can compare it only to Zanga in Dr. Young's
Revenge —
* Know, then, 'twas — I ;
I forged the letter ; I disposed the picture.
I hated, I despised, and I destroy.'
I ask, my lords, whether the revengeful tem
per attributed, by poetic fiction only, to the
bloody African, is not surpassed by the cool
ness and apathy of the wily American ?"
Less fervid eloquence than this of Mr.
Wedderburne's would have been sufficient to
* Fur, thief.
5*
54 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
sway the decision of the council, who declar
ed the petition of the Massachusetts assembly
to be scandalous and vexatious. Franklin
was dismissed from the office which he held
of postmaster-general of the colonies. Wed-
derburne was afterwards advanced in his
profession, till he attained the chancellorship
and a peerage ; and George III. lost thirteen
provinces.
Till this moment Franklin had labored for
conciliation ; but though, during the time of
the hearing of the arguments before the
council, he preserved his countenance unmov
ed, the insults of Wedderburne so exasperated
his feelings, that when he left the council-
room he declared to his friend Dr. Priestley,
who accompanied him on this memorable oc
casion, that he would never again put on the
clothes which he then wore till he had receiv
ed satisfaction. He dressed himself in this
" well-saved" suit when he signed at Paris the
treaty which for ever deprived the crown of
Great Britain of its dominion over the United
States. It is only within these seven years
that it has been ascertained that governor
Hutchinson's letters were put into Franklin's
hands by a Dr. Williamson, who, without any
suggestion on his part, had procured them by
stratagem from the office where they had
been deposited.*
* This curious fact is stated, with many particulars, in a
Memoir of Dr. Williamson, by Dr. Hosack, of New York.
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 55
SECTION VII.
BOSTON PORT-ACT, AND REPEAL OF THE CHARTER
OF MASSACHUSETTS.
The determination of the colonists to use
no tea which had paid duty was so generally
persevered in, that seventeen millions of
pounds of that commodity were accumulated
in the warehouses of the East India Company.
With a view of getting rid of this stock, and
at the same time of aiding ministers in their
project of taxing the North American colonies,
the company proposed that a law should be
passed authorizing them to receive a draw
back of the full import duties on all teas which
they should export. To this proposal the
British government agreed, in hopes that, as
by this arrangement the colonists, on paying
the duty of three-pence per pound on the land
ing of the tea in their harbors, would be able
to buy it at a cheaper rate than they could
do from the contraband dealers, their patriotic
scruples would be silenced by their love of
gain.
In this notion, however, ministers were mis
taken. Strong resolutions were entered into
throughout the provinces, declaring, that
whosoever should aid or abet in landing or
vending the tea which was expected, ought
56 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
to be regarded as an enemy to his country ;
and that committees should be appointed to
wait on the agents of the East India Compa
ny, and to demand from them a resignation
of their appointments.
Terrified by these proceedings, a great ma
jority of the consignees complied with this
requisition ; but in Massachusetts these agents
being the relatives and friends of the governor,
and expecting to be supported by the milita
ry force stationed in Boston, were determined
to land and offer for sale the obnoxious com
modity. As the tea ships were lying in the
harbor, ready to land their cargoes, the lead
ing patriots, apprehensive that, if the tea were
once warehoused, the opposition of the peo
ple to its sale might gradually give way, and
deeming decisive measures absolutely neces
sary in the present circumstances, boarded
the vessels, and emptied the tea-chests into
the water.
The particulars of this adventure are these.
The ships alluded to were the Dartmouth and
Elenor, and the Brig Beaver, which arrived
in Boston about the first of December, 1773,
with tea shipped by the East India Company.
In anticipation of their arrival, a meeting had
been held, at which it was resolved that the
consignees of the tea should be required to
send it back, without permitting it to be landed.
This requisition not being complied with, sev
eral meetings of the people of Boston and the
AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
57
neighboring towns were held, at the Old South
Church, for taking measures to enforce a
compliance. The last of these meetings was
held on the 14th of December, and was pro
longed by debates to near six o'clock in the
evening. At a given signal, about thirty per
sons, who were disguised as Indians, proceeded
in a body to the tea ships, which lay at anchor
near Griffin's wharf. The meeting was im
mediately dissolved, and the crowed followed
to the wharf. The disguised party having
boarded these ships, in less than two hours
took out all the tea, amounting to 240 chests,
and 100 half-chests, broke them to pieces, and
threw their contents into the sea.
58 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
The British ministry rejoiced that this out
rage had occurred, and that it had occurred
in the town of Boston, which they had long
regarded as the focus of sedition, from whence
a spirit of resistance to British authority was
diffused throughout the colonies. It now lay
at their mercy, as having been guilty of a
flagrant delinquency, and as meriting exemp
lary punishment. Determined to chastise its
mutinous inhabitants for their numerous delin
quencies, and to bend them to submission,
Lord North, then prime minister, on the 14th
of March, made a motion in the House of Com
mons, " That leave be given to bring in a bill
for the immediate removal of the officers con
cerned in the collection and management of
his majesty's duties and customs from the town
of Boston, in the province of Massachusetts
Bay in North America ; and to discontinue
the landing and discharging, lading and ship
ping of goods, wares, and merchandise, at the
said town of Boston, or within the harbor
thereof."
The deep silence which followed the annun
ciation of this motion marked the sense of the
house as to the serious consequences which
it involved; but it met with no opposition,
except on the part of Alderman Sawbridge
and Mr. Dowdswell. Even Colonel Barre,
the great advocate of the rights of the colo
nies, spoke in favor of it, and it passed with
out a division. No debate occurred on the
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 5^
first reading of the bill on the 18th of March ;
and the second reading, which took place on
the 21st of the same month, was only inter
rupted by a few adverse remarks made by
Mr. R. Fuller. On the 25th, a petition was
presented against the bill, signed by several
natives of North America, at that time resi
dent in London ; after the reading of which
the House discussed its provisions in commit
tee.
Mr. Fuller availed himself of this occasion
to move, that instead of the closing of the port
of Boston, which measure, he argued, would
be detrimental, not only to American, but
also to British interests, a fine should be im
posed on the offending community. This
amendment was opposed by the prime min
ister, who said that he was no enemy to leni
ent measures, but that it was evident that,
with respect to the inhabitants of Boston, re
solutions of censure and warning would avail
nothing, — that it was then the time to stand
out, to defy them, to proceed with firmness
and without fear, and that they would never
reform till severe measures were adopted.
With a lamentable want of foresight his
lordship thus proceeded : " I hope that we
every one feel that this is the common cause
of us all ; and unanimity will go half way to
the obedience of the people of Boston to this
bill. The honorable gentleman tells us, that
the act will be a piece of waste paper, and
60 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
that an army will be required to put it into
execution. The good of this act is, that four
or five frigates will do the business without
any military force."
With a similar blindness to futurity, Mr.
Charles Jenkinson exclaimed, " We have gone
into a very expensive war for the attainment
of America ; the struggle which we shall now
have to keep it will be of little expense."
Thus rash and short-sighted are statesmen
when their passions obtain the mastery over
their judgment ! After a lengthened debate,
in the course of which the bill was powerful
ly opposed by Mr. Burke and Mr. Dowdswell,
it passed the Commons with but very few
negatives ; and having been hurried through
the House of Lords, it finally received the
royal assent, and was passed into a law.
The Boston port-act was speedily followed
by still more alarming measures. The free
constitutions of the American provinces had
presented strong impediments against the
views of his majesty and his ministers. Among
these, the charter of Massachusetts was pre
eminent for the liberality of its principles.
Being well aware, that while this charter
subsisted he could never effectuate his designs,
Lord North determined to set it aside. When
Charles II. deemed it necessary for his pur
poses to abrogate the franchises of the city of
London, and of other corporate towns in Eng
land, he attacked their charters by quo war-
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 61
ranlos ; but the process of law is tedious, and
in this case the issue of legal proceedings
might be uncertain.
The minister, therefore, decided upon bring
ing the omnipotence of parliament to bear
upon the contumacious inhabitants of the of
fending colony. Accordingly, on the 28th of
March, 1774, on the allegation that an exec
utive power was wanting in the province of
Massachusetts, and that it was highly neces
sary to strengthen the hands of its magistracy,
he proposed to bring in a bill, authorizing the
governor for the time being to act as a justice
of the peace, and empowering him to appoint
at his will and pleasure the officers through
out the whole civil authority, such as the
provost marshal and the sheriffs ; to which
latter officers was to be delegated the nomi
nation of juries, who had formerly been elect
ed by the freeholders and inhabitants of the
several towns of the province.
It was also his lordship's intention to vest
in the crown the appointment of the council,
which, under the provisions of the ancient
constitution, had heretofore been elected by
the general court. The latter provision was
introduced into the bill at the suggestion of
Lord George Germaine, who was pleased to
say, that " he would not have men of a mer
cantile cast every day collecting themselves
together and debating about political mat
ters ; he would have them follow their occu-
6
62 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
pations as merchants, and not consider them
selves as ministers of that country."
In pursuance of this suggestion, which was
thankfully received by the premier, there
were added ' to the bill severe restrictions on
the holding of public town meetings. Leave
was given to bring in the bill without a single
objection, except on the part of Mr. Byng,
the member for Middlesex ; and though, in
its progress through the House of Commons,
many weighty arguments were urged against
it, especially by Governor Pownall and Mr.
Dowdswell, it was carried on the 2d of May,
by a majority of 239 against 64 voices. In
the House of Lords it was severely animad
verted upon ; but a division of 92 to 20 evinced
that the majority of the peers of the realm
entered heartily into the views of the ministry
as to coercing the American colonies.
The Duke of Richmond, however, and
eleven other peers, protested against it for
the following reasons ; " Because, before the
rights of the colony of Massachusetts Bay,
which they derive from their charter, are
taken away, the definite legal offence by
which a forfeiture of their charter is incurred
ought to have been clearly stated, and the
parties heard in their own defence ; and the
mere celerity of a decision against it will not
reconcile the minds of the people to that
mode of government which is to be establish
ed upon its ruins.
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 63
" On the general allegations of a declaratory
preamble, the rights of any public body may
be taken away, and any visionary scheme of
government substituted in their place. By
this bill, the governor and council. are invested
with dangerous powers, unknown to the Brit
ish constitution, and with which the king him
self is not intrusted. By the appointment
and removal of the sheriff at pleasure, they
have the means of returning such juries as
may best suit with the gratification of their
passions and their interests ; the life, liberty,
and property of the subject are put into their
hands without control.
"The weak, inconsistent, and injudicious
measures of the ministry have given new
force to the distractions of America, which, on
the repeal of the stamp-act, were subsiding ;
have revived dangerous questions, and grad
ually estranged the affections of the colonies
from the mother country. To render the col
onies permanently advantageous, they must
be satisfied with their condition ; that satisfac
tion there is no chance of restoring, but by
recurring to the principles on which the re
peal of the stamp-act was founded."
The Boston port-act, and the act for re
modelling the constitution of Massachusetts,
were strong and severe measures, — measures
which, it might have been conceived, would
have set at rest any common jealousy of pop
ular rights, and satisfied any ordinary thirst for
^64 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
Tengeance. But, while these acts were in
progress, the British prime minister held in
reserve another vial of wrath to pour on the
heads of the refractory colonists. On the
15th of April, he rose in his place and pro
posed a third bill, which, he hoped, would ef
fectually secure the province of Massachu
setts Bay from future disturbances. The ten
or of this bill, which bore the plausible title
of a bill " for the impartial administration of
justice," was, that "in case of any person
being indicted for murder or any other capi
tal offence committed in the province of Mas
sachusetts in aiding the magistracy, the gov
ernor might send the person so indicted to
another colony or to Great Britain for trial ;"
the act to continue in force for four years.
It was observed, that while Lord North
was moving the House for leave to bring in
this bill, and was attempting, in a short speech,
to enforce its necessity, his voice faltered.
This is not matter of surprise. His lordship
was a good-tempered and humane man ; and
it must have been repugnant to his better
feelings to become the organ for the propos
ing of such atrocious measures.
The introduction of this bill roused in op
position to it the energies of Colonel Barre,
who had, however unwillingly, acquiesced in
the preceding laws of coercion. He saw
clearly the drift of the proposed statute, and
was well aware that the colonists would not
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 65
submit to it. " You may," said he, " think
that a law founded on this motion will be a
protection to the soldier who imbrues his
hand in the blood of his fellow-subjects. I
am mistaken if it will. Who is to execute
it? He must be a bold man, indeed, who
will make the attempt. If the people are so
exasperated, that it is unsafe to bring the
man who has injured them to trial, let the
governor who withdraws him from justice
look to himself. The people will not endure
it ; they would no longer deserve the reputa
tion of being descended from the loins of
Englishmen if they did endure it."
Such was the bold language of an experi
enced soldier, who knew America well. But
this warning voice was raised in vain. The
views of the Court were adopted by both
Houses of Parliament, and this last and most
unconstitutional measure of coercion was
passed into a law.
The Earl of Chatham was unable to attend
the House until the bills had been passed,
but he took occasion to raise a warning voice
against them on a subsequent agitation of the
matter.
" I condemn," said he, " in the severest
manner, the turbulent and unwarrantable
conduct of the Americans, in some instances,
particularly in the late riots at Boston ; but,
my lords, the mode which has been pursued
to bring them back to a sense of their duty,
6*
'66 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
is so diametrically opposite to every princi
ple of sound policy, as to excite my utmost
astonishment. You have involved the guilty
and the innocent in one common punishment,
and avenge the crime of a few lawless depre
dators upon the whole body of the inhabit
ants.
"My lords, it has always been my fixed and
unalterable opinion, and I will carry it with
me to the grave, that this country has no
right under heaven to tax America. It is
contrary to all the principles of justice and
civil policy ; it is contrary to that essential,
unalterable right in nature, ingrafted into the
British constitution as a fundamental law,
that what a man has honestly acquired is ab
solutely his own, which he may freely give,
but which cannot be taken away from him
without his consent."
It might seem just and equitable that com
pensation should be made by a delinquent
community for property destroyed within its
precincts, and not unreasonable that a town
which had perpetrated an open violation of
fiscal law, should be deprived, till it was re
duced to a better spirit, of the privileges of a
port. Nor is it improbable that, had the
British ministry proceeded no further in their
measures of vengeance, the other commercial
cities of the colonies would have regarded
the humiliation of the people of Boston with
indifference.
AMERICAN REVOLUTION*. 67
But the attack upon the charter of Massa
chusetts filled the bosom of every North
American with indignation and alarm. Char
ters they had been accustomed to consider as
inviolable compacts between the king and
his people ; but if these could be annulled
and abrogated by parliament, what province
could deem its constitution safe from viola
tion ? And in the provision for the trial in
Great Britain of individuals accused of mur
ders committed in America, they saw an in
demnity for every one who might avail him
self of a plausible pretext to put to death any
person who might be obnoxious to govern
ment.
Such were the feelings of the colonists.
But, on this side of the Atlantic, these in
vasions of the liberties of fellow-subjects were
regarded with unconcern, and even with sat
isfaction. The people of Great Britain gen
erally care little about the internal state of
the distant possessions of the crown. They
at that time looked up to parliament with
awe, as a threefold body vested with the at
tribute of omnipotence ; and they made them
selves a party in the quarrel, reprobating the
refractory spirit of the colonies as a rebellion
against the sovereign authority, of which they
imagined that every individual Briton had a
share.
68 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
SECTION VIII.
REMOVAL OF THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT FROM
BOSTON.
When intelligence arrived at Boston of the
strong proceedings of the British parliament
and government, the patriots of Massachu
setts cast an anxious eye on the sister colo
nies. They were well aware that, if left to
themselves at this awful crisis, they must
succumb to the power of the mother country ;
but they entertained hopes that a union of the
provinces against what they regarded as min
isterial oppression, would rescue their com
mon liberties from destruction. To effect
this union they used the utmost exertions of
activity, skill, and prudence.
The opposition to the stamp-act and to the
duty on tea, had been carried on by means of
committees of correspondence, which had es
tablished links of connection throughout the
whole of the British dependencies in North
America. Of this organization they now
availed themselves with the utmost prompti
tude ; and, by the mission of agents of consum
mate ability, they roused the inhabitants of
every district of continental America to a
sense of their wrongs. Public meetings were
held in every township of every province,
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 69
In which it was resolved to make common
cause with the people of Massachusetts, and
to resist the claim of the British parliament
to tax them without their consent. The steps
to be taken in pursuance of these resolutions,
they unanimously agreed to refer to a gene
ral congress, the speedy summoning of which
they declared to be absolutely necessary to
the public safety.
Virginia came nobly to the succor of Mas
sachusetts in her adversity. The house of
burgesses appointed the first day of June,
the day on which the Port Bill was to go into
effect, as a day of "fasting, humiliation, and
prayer," in consideration of the " hostile in
vasion of the ci$" of Boston, in our sister
colony of Massachusetts," — " devoutly to im
plore the divine interposition for averting the
heavy calamity which threatens destruction
to our civil rights, and the evils of civil war ;
to give us one heart and one mind, firmly to
oppose, by all just and proper means, every
injury to American rights."
In the mean time, General Gage had ar
rived at Boston, invested with the united au
thority of governor and commander-in-chief
of the forces. He was speedily followed by
two regiments of foot, and by various other
detachments, which gradually swelled his gar
rison to a number which was deemed amply
sufficient to overawe the malcontents, and to
enforce the execution of the obnoxious acts.
70 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
Soon after his arrival, he announced his
intention of holding the general court of the
colony at Salem after the 1st of June, the
day appointed by the statute for the com
mencement of the operation of the Boston port-
act. The blow thus struck seemed to common
observers to be fatal to the inhabitants of that
devoted town. Property was instantly depreci
ated to the lowest scale of value. Houses were
deserted by their tenants ; warehouses were
emptied and abandoned ; the quays were de
serted ; silence reigned in the ship-yards, and
thousands of artificers wandered through the
streets destitute of employ.
But the sufferers bore their distresses with
a sullen resolution. Not a murmur was heard
against the democratic leaders, who might in.
a certain sense be regarded as the authors of
their miseries ; but their execrations of the
British parliament were loud and violent.
Contributions poured in from all quarters for
their relief ; and they were comforted by let
ters of condolence in their distresses, and of
thanks for their steadiness. The inhabitants
of Marblehead offered to accommodate the
merchants of Boston with their warehouses ;
and the people of Salem, in an address to the
governor, declared that they could not " in
dulge one thought to seize on wealth, and
raise their fortunes on the ruin of their suffer
ing neighbors."
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 71
SECTION IX.
FIRST ACTS OF THE ASSEMBLY AT CONCORD.
On the 7th of June, the governor held the
general court of Massachusetts, at Salem ;
but finding that the popular leaders were
prepared on the first day of its meeting to
carry some most obnoxious motions, he prompt
ly dissolved the assembly. This, however,
he did not effect before it had nominated five
deputies to meet the committees of other
provinces at Philadelphia on the ensuing 1st
of September.
The circumstances attending this crisis
were rather amusing. Upon the very open
ing of the assembly, it was resolved to send
deputies to the proposed general congress.
When General Gage learned what the House
of Representatives were doing on this occa
sion, he sent to dissolve them ; but they, with
equal alertness, being informed of his design,
closed their doors. Samuel Adams secured
the key, and they finished their proceedings
\vhile the proclamation of dissolution was
read upon the stairs.
The more, indeed, he exerted himself to
embarrass the proceedings of the patriots, the
more decidedly did he find himself baffled by
their vigilance and their ingenuity. When,
72 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
according to the provisions of the coercive
statutes, he issued a proclamation prohibiting
the calling of any town meetings after the 1st
of August, 1774, an assembly of this kind
was, nevertheless, held ; and, on his sum
moning the selectmen to aid him to disperse
it, he was encountered by the following no
table specimen of special pleading, — that
the holding of the meeting to which he ob
jected was no violation of the act of par
liament, " for that only prohibited the calling
of town meetings, and that no such call had
been made ; a former legal meeting, before
the 1st of August, having only adjourned
themselves from time to time."
One consequence of these adjourned meet
ings wras a " solemn league and covenant,"
whereby the parties who signed it bound
themselves " to suspend all commercial inter
course with Great Britain until the late ob
noxious laws were repealed, and the colony
of Massachusetts was restored to its chartered
rights." A proclamation by which the gov
ernor denounced this association as " unlaw
ful, hostile, and traitorous," was treated with
contempt. In another proclamation, publish
ed about this time, " for the encouragement
of piety and virtue, and for the prevention
and punishing of vice, profaneness, and im
morality," the governor made especial men
tion of the vice of hypocrisy, as a failing
which the people were admonished to eschew*
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 73
No doubt, the staff of General Gage thought
this an excellent satire upon the puritanism
of the Bostonians. But the joke was ill-timed,
and served only to add fuel to the popular
mind, which was already in a high state of
inflammation. When, in the month of Au
gust, Gage attempted to organize the new
constitution of the colony, most of the coun
sellors whom he appointed refused to act, and
the juries declined to serve under judges
nominated by the crown.
Dreading the most serious consequences
from the obstinacy thus manifested by the
people of Massachusetts, the governor thought
it prudent to fortify Boston Neck, and to seize
the powder deposited in the arsenal at Charles-
town, which is a kind of suburb to Boston.*
These measures produced a general rising
throughout the province, which was with
difficulty repressed by the prudence of the
leading patriots. This demonstration drove
the governor and his revenue officers from
the new seat of government to the proscribed
town of Boston.
While these transactions were going on,
the Congress, or union of the several com
mittees, had assembled at Philadelphia, and,
as the first fruits of its deliberations, issued a
declaration, that it " most thoroughly approv
ed the wisdom and fortitude with which op-
* To which it is now united by a bridge.
7
74 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
position to wicked ministerial measures had
been hitherto established in Massachusetts ;
and recommended perseverance in the same
firm and temperate conduct, as expressed in
the resolutions of the delegates from the
county of Suffolk."
The tenor of these resolutions was, that
no obedience was due to the restraining stat
utes. Emboldened by the approbation of
Congress to act up to the spirit of these reso
lutions, a provincial assembly, held at Con
cord, of which Mr. Hancock was president,
after having in vain solicited the governor to
desist from constructing a fortress at the en
trance into Boston, in defiance of his excel
lency's authority, appointed a committee to
draw up a plan for the arming of the prov
ince. The members of this committee did not
shrink from the discharge of their perilous
duty. They gave instructions for the organ
izing of a species of partisans, under the
name of minute-men, the command of whom
was conferred on Jedediah Preble, Artemas
Ward, and Seth Porneroy, warriors whose pu
ritanical names gave ominous foreboding of
a determination of purpose and of an obsti
nacy of valor, which their future conduct did
not belie.
The assembling of the militia was delega
ted to a committee of safety ; and a commit
tee of supply was authorized to expend the
sum of £15,000 sterling, in provisions, mili-
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 75
tary accoutrements, and stores, which were
accordingly provided, and deposited at Wor
cester and Concord. At a later meeting of
the provincial congress, still bolder measures
were adopted. Resolutions were then passed
to raise an army of 12,000 men, and delegates
were sent to the adjacent colonies to urge
them to increase these forces to the number
of 20,000.
It was, moreover, determined that the Brit
ish troops should be attacked if they marched
in field equipment beyond Boston Neck. A
circular letter was also issued requesting the
clergy to aid the common cause by their
prayers and exhortations. At this crisis the
situation of the governor was far from being
an enviable one. The reins of authority had
fallen from his hands, and had been seized by
the provincial congress, whose resolutions
had throughout the province the force of
laws.
At the approach of winter he experienced
the utmost difficulty in procuring materials or
workmen to construct barracks for the shel
tering of his troops. The straw which he
purchased in the vicinity of the town was set
on fire, and the timber which he had bought
for the king's stores was seized or destroyed.
Nor was the spirit of open resistance confined
to Boston. In Rhode Island the people seized
the public battery of forty pieces of cannon,
and stormed and took the castle of Ports-
76 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
mouth, where they obtained a seasonable sup
ply of powder.
SECTION X.
OPENING OF THE CONGRESS AT PHILADELPHIA.
These active measures, which amounted to
a direct levying of war against the king, were
provoked by the rigor exercised against the
colony of Massachusetts. In the mean time,
the deputies of eleven provinces had assem
bled in congress at Philadelphia, and were
soon joined by delegates from North Carolina.
Peyton Randolph was chosen president of this
assembly, and Charles Thomson was appoint
ed its secretary.
After a slight controversy as to the mode
of voting, which was at length del ermined to
be taken by provinces, each province having
one vote, the members proceeded with the
utmost zeal and harmony to the arduous bu
siness before them. In the first place, they
issued a declaration of rights, in which, while
they claimed a total exemption from any
species of internal taxation imposed by the
British parliament, they professed their wil
lingness to obey all the laws which might be
enacted in the mother country for the regula
tion of trade. They protested against the
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 77
introduction of a standing army into the col
onies without their consent, as also against
the violation of their chartered rights in the
infringement of their ancient constitutions.
Enumerating the several acts by which
they were aggrieved, they declared that till
these acts were repealed, they and their con
stituents would hold no commercial inter
course with Britain ; and with a view of
overawing the weak and the wavering, and
the partisans of royal authority among their
countrymen, they resolved that committees
should be chosen in every county, city, and
town, to observe the conduct of all people
touching the suspension of trade with the
mother country, and to publish, in gazettes,
the names of those who violated this ordi
nance, as foes to the rights of British Amer
ica.
They also agreed upon an address to the
British people, vindicating their resistance to
-oppression ; and two memorials to the West
India colonies and to the people of Canada,
exhorting them to unite with their persecuted
brethren in a steady opposition to the encroach
ments of arbitrary power. In laying their
grievances before the throne, in a petition to
the king, they professed sentiments of loyalty
to his majesty's person and authority ; but
complained of the miseries which had been
brought upon them by the maladministration
of wicked ministers.
7*
78 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
" We ask," said they, " but for peace, liber
ty, and safety. We wish not a diminution of
the prerogative, nor do we solicit the grant
of any new right in our favor. Your royal
authority over us, and our connection with
Great Britain, we shall always carefully and
zealously endeavor to support and maintain."
This address to the sovereign concluded in
the following pathetic terms. " We implore
your majesty, for the honor of Almighty God,
for your own glory, for the interest of your
family, for the safety of your kingdoms and
dominions, that, as the loving father of your
whole people, connected by the same bonds
of law, loyalty, faith, and blood, though
dwelling in various countries, you will not
suffer the transcendent relation formed by
these ties to be further violated by uncertain
expectation of effects, which, if attained, never
could compensate for the calamities through
which they must be gained."
These various documents were drawn up
with great judgment and ability ; and their
dissemination throughout the union produced
a powerful effect upon the feelings of the
people, preparing them for the most strenuous
exertions in what they deemed to be the
cause of justice and freedom.
Their framers, however, did not rely upon
their eloquence alone, to produce an effect
favorable to their cause upon the people of
Britain. Their non-importation agreements
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 79
had produced the repeal of the stamp-act, and
they trusted that the annunciation of similar
resolutions would produce similar effects as
to the removal of their late parliamentary
grievances.
The event proved that they were mistaken.
The merchants trading to America composed
a small fraction of the British community.
A hostile ministry was all-powerful in parlia
ment — the pride of the king was touched — •
every individual Briton, in whose mouth the
phrase our colonies was familiar, deemed him
self, in some sort, sovereign over the North
American plantations, and a cry almost unan
imous was raised throughout the nation, that
the mutinous contemners of the omnipotence
of the legislature of the parent state, must
be reduced to obedience by the strong hand
of coercion.
The Congress, after a session of about eight
weeks, and after passing a resolution for the
calling of another assembly of the same na
ture, if necessary, in the ensuing May, dis
solved themselves ; and the members pro
ceeded to further, in their respective prov
inces, the cause in which they were thus de
cidedly embarked. By their influence, ope
rating upon minds ready prepared by perpet
ual discussions, both public and private, of
the wrongs of the colonies, the recommenda
tions of an assembly, invested with no legal
authority, obtained the force of laws. The
80 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
non-intercourse agreements were zealously
adopted by the great mass of the people ;
and the few who ventured to dissent from
the general voice, were proscribed as ene
mies to their country.
Lord Chatham, in the House of Lords,
passed upon the congress, of Philadelphia
this noble eulogium. " For myself, I must de
clare and avow, that in all my reading and
observation — and history has been my favor
ite study — I have read Thucydides and have
studied and admired the master states of the
world — that for solidity of reasoning, force of
sagacity, and wisdom of conclusion, no nation
or body of men can stand in preference to the
general congress of Philadelphia."
SECTION XI.
ADDRESS OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, 9TH OF
FEBRUARY, 1775.
When the petition from Congress to the
king arrived in England, his majesty had just
met a new parliament, to which he had com
municated information, in a speech from the
throne, " that a most daring spirit of resist
ance and disobedience to the laws unhappily
prevailed in the colony of Massachusetts ;"
and at the same time intimated that he had
taken the requisite steps to repress it.
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 81
Notwithstanding this angry demonstration,
hopes were, for a short time, entertained by
the friends of America that ministers would
adopt measures of conciliation. The secre
tary of state, after submitting the petition of
the general congress to the cabinet council,
presented it to the king, by whom, as he re
ported, it was graciously received, and was
intended to be laid by him before his two
houses of parliament ; numerous petitions
from the merchants and manufacturers of the
principal towns in the kingdom, and from the
West India planters, prayed for the adoption
of a more lenient policy towards the North
American colonies ; all the eloquence of Lord
Chatham was exerted in the House of Peers
to 'effect the same object ; yet Lord North
was determined to proceed in the course of
coercion.
The Rubicon was passed on the 9th of Feb
ruary, 1775, by the presentation by both
houses of a joint address to the king, in which
they stated it as their opinion, that " a rebel
lion actually existed in the province of Mas
sachusetts ;" and, in the usual style, offered to
hazard their lives and fortunes, " in the main
tenance of the just rights of his majesty and
the two houses of parliament." In support
of this address, an addition was voted to the
military force, of 4,383 rank and file, and
2,000 seamen.
An act was also passed to restrain the com-
82 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
merce of the eastern colonies to Great Britain
Ireland, and the British West Indies ; and to
prevent them from fishing on the Banks of
Newfoundland, under certain conditions, and
for a limited time. The provisions of this
act were soon afterwards extended to the
provinces of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Mary
land, Virginia, and South Carolina.
It is to be remarked, that New York, Dele-
ware, and North Carolina, did not on this occa
sion fall under the ban of ministerial interdic
tion. New York, where the government had
more influence than in other colonies, had been
tardy in joining the union ; and Lord North
flattered himself that, by forbearing to include
that and the other two colonies abovemen-
tioned in the restraining act, he should sow
among the associated provinces jealousies
which would dissolve their connection ; but
in this he was disappointed.
So powerful was the spirit of patriotism in
America, that the inhabitants of the exempted
colonies disdained to avail themselves of the
privileges which were reserved to them,
and determined to share in the restrictions
imposed on their brethren ; and it was with
severe mortification that the premier soon af
terwards witnessed the presentation to the
House of Commons of a petition and remon
strance from the assembly of New York,
claiming exemption from internal taxation,
and protesting against the dependence of
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 83
governors and judges on the crown for their
salaries and emoluments.
A hearing had been refused to the petition
of Congress, though it was individually sign
ed, under the pretext that it emanated from
an illegal meeting. The remonstrance of the
New York assembly was not liable to this
objection ; but when a motion was made in
the House of Commons that it should be
brought up, it was lost by a stratagem of
Lord North.
On the 20th of February, 1775, some time
previously to the transaction which has just
been related, his lordship had manifested
some cunning, but little wisdom, in propos
ing a resolution to the effect, that when any
of the colonies or provinces in America
should make provision for contributing their
proportion to the common defence, and for
the support of their civil government, (such
proportion to be raised under the authority
of the general court or general assembly of
such province and colony,) " it will be proper
to forbear in respect of such colony or prov
ince, to levy any duty or tax, except such du
ties as may arise for the regulation of com
merce, which duties are to be carried to the
account of such colony or province."
The bill founded on this resolution was vio
lently opposed by certain of the prime minis
ter's habitual partisans, who insisted on it
that the colonies should be taxed directly by
84 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
the British parliament. It was also attacked
by the opposition, who argued that as it re
served to the British government the right of
apportioning the respective proportions which
the provinces should raise for the general
service, and left the disposal of the sums
raised to parliament, it mattered little that
the immediate application of the scourge of
taxation should be left to the colonial assem
blies, who would regard the bill as an insult
and a wrong.
The opposition made a right estimate of
the feelings of the Americans. The bill pass
ed into a law ; but it was received through
out the Union with abhorrence and contempt.
It was in this session, viz. on the 22d of
March, 1775, that Mr. Burke made his cele
brated speech for conciliation with America,
— a speech fraught with statesman-like views,
expressed in language at once temperate and
eloquent. At the commencement of this
deeply-studied oration, Mr. Burke, after ob
serving that all former measures recommend
ed by the ministry and adopted by parliament
had served to no other purpose but to keep
America in a state of agitation, intimated
that it had been observed to him by an intel
ligent friend, that, instead of limiting himself
to criticisms on the plans of government, it
was highly expedient that he should produce
a plan of his own.
Though he was aware, said he, that it ar
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 85
gues little knowledge to hazard plans of gov
ernment, except from a seat of authority, yet,
as public calamity was a migthy leveller, he
would now act upon his friend's suggestion.
" My proposition," proceeded he, " is peace ;
not peace through the medium of war ; nor
peace to be hunted through the labyrinth of
intricate and endless negotiations ; nor peace
to arise out of universal discord, fomented
from principle in all parts of the empire ; not
peace to depend upon the juridical determi
nation of perplexing questions, or the precise
marking of the shadowy boundaries of a com
plex government. It is simple peace, sought
in its natural course and in its ordinary
haunts, — it is peace sought in the spirit of
peace, and laid in principles purely pacific.
" I propose, by removing the ground of the
difference, and by restoring the former unsus
pecting confidence of the colonies in the
mother country, to give permanent satisfac
tion to your people, and, far from a scheme
of ruling by discord, to reconcile them to
each other in the same act, and by the bond
of the very same interest which reconciles
them to British government."
After laying down and enforcing the posi
tion that the proposal for reconciliation ought,
in consideration of her strength, to come
from Great Britain, Mr. Burke asserted, that
the plan for conciliation ought to be guided,
not by abstract theory, but by a regard to
8
86 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
circumstances. What, then, were the cir
cumstances of the present case ? In the first
place, the discontented Americans amounted
in number to two millions, a number which,
considered in mass, could not be regarded "as
a paltry excrescence of the state, or a mean
dependant, who may be neglected with little
damage, and provoked with little danger."
But, with the consideration of the population
of America, it was requisite to combine ma
ture reflection upon other circumstances ; as,
for instance, the commerce, the agriculture,
and the fisheries of the colonies.
As to commerce, Mr. Burke proved, by
documentary evidence, that, at the beginning
of the century, of six millions which consti
tuted the whole mass of the export com
merce of Great Britain, the colony trade was
but one twelfth part ; but that, by the last
returns submitted to parliament, it appeared
that, as a part of sixteen millions, it consti
tuted considerably more than a third of the
whole. In agriculture, he asserted that Amer
ica was so prosperous that she was enabled
to export vast quantities of grain for the sup
ply of the mother country.
As to the third head of consideration, " no
sea," exclaimed the orator, " but is vexed by
the fisheries of the colonists, no climate that
is not witness to their toils. Neither the per
severance of Holland, nor the activity of
France, nor the dexterous and firm sagacity
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 87
of English enterprise, ever carried this most
perilous mode of hardy industry to the extent
to which it has been pushed by this recent
people, — a people who are still, as it were,
but in the gristle, and not yet hardened into
the bone of manhood."
But, continued Mr. Burke, some persons
will say, such a country is worth fighting for,
—true, — but fighting will not retain it. Force
is uncertain, and, if successful, it will depre
ciate the object gained. He warned the
House to consider the temper and character
of the people with whom many ill-advised
individuals seemed so eager to contend. The
North American colonists were jealous of
their liberties. Their jealousy as to their
rights they derived from their English origin ;
it was nursed by their popular legislatures, —
it was also nursed by their religion. The
great body of the colonists were dissenters,
and the dissenting interests have sprung up
in direct opposition to all the ordinary powers
of the world, and can justify that opposition
only on a strong claim to natural liberty.
" All protestantism," Mr. Burke acutely re
marked, — " All protestantism, even the most
cold and passive, is a sort of dissent. But
the religion most prevalent in our northern
colonies, is a refinement on the principle of
resistance ; it is the dissidence of dissent, and
the protestantism of the protestant religion."
The spirit of freedom was, moreover, nm>
88 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
tured in the colonies, in general, by education ;
and in Virginia and the Carolinas by that
pride which uniformly actuates the holders
of slaves, " to whom freedom is not only an
enjoyment, but a kind of rank and privilege."
Their distance from the mother country like
wise rendered the colonists less disposed to
submit to the dictation of the parent state.
This happens in all forms into which empire
can be thrown. In large bodies the circula
tion of power must be less vigorous at the
extremities." A proud spirit of liberty hav
ing from these various causes been infused
throughout the colonies, in consequence of
which they have not only disobeyed our au
thority, but established an efficient authority
of their own, by means of which a vast prov
ince has subsisted for near a twelvemonth*
without governor, without public council,
without judges, without executive magis
trates, the question arises, how is this spirit
to be encountered ?
Some politicians have, in this emergency,
proposed to check the population of the colo
nies by stopping the grant of more lands by
the crown. Others have advised that their
maritime enterprises should be checked by
the severity of restrictive laws ; while a third
class of counsellors are sanguine in their ex
pectations, that the Virginians and the plant
ers of the Carolinas will speedily be reduced
to submission by the emancipation of their
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 89
slaves. Some, again, went so far as to talk
of prosecuting the refractory as criminals.
After demonstrating at length the futility
of these proposals, Mr. Burke affirmed, that
the only method left of putting an end to the
existing troubles, was that of conciliation.
The Americans, said he, complain of taxa
tion, — I will not on this matter dispute the
point of right, but that of policy. " The
question is not whether you have a right to
render your people miserable, but whether it
is not your interest to make them happy. It
is not what a lawyer may tell you, you may
do, but what humanity, reason, and justice
declare you ought to do."
Having thus laid down the principle of his
plan, Mr. Burke began to open it by declar
ing, that his main object was to admit the
people of the colonies to an interest in the
constitution. The fact was, that the Ameri
cans did not object to the laws of trade ; nor
did they aim at any thing more than a re
lease from taxation, imposed upon them by a
legislative body in which their interests are
not guarded by their representatives. Simi
lar uneasiness was for a long time prevalent
in .Ireland, in Wales, and in the counties pal
atine of Chester and Durham.
Now the agitations of Ireland were quelled
by the establishment of a separate legislature
for that country, while the feuds which pre
vailed in Chester and Durham were annihi-
90 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
lated by the admission of representatives of
those counties into the English parliament.
Let a similar policy then be exercised towards
America. In her case, let taxation and rep
resentation go hand in hand. But the dis
tance between the colonies and the mother
country precludes the Americans from send
ing representatives to the British legisla
ture.
What remains, then, but to recognise for
the theory the ancient constitution and policy
of this kingdom with regard to representation,
and as to the practice, to return to that mode
which a uniform experience has marked out
to you as best, and in which you walked with
security, advantage, and honor, until the year
1763. " My resolutions, therefore," continued
Mr. Burke, " mean to establish the equity and
justice of a taxation of America by grant, and
not by imposition ; to mark the legal compe
tency of the colony assemblies for the sup
port of their government in peace, and for
the public aids in the time of war ; to ac
knowledge that this legal competency has
had a dutiful and beneficial exercise, and
that experience has shown the benefit of their
grants, and the futility of parliamentary tax
ation as a measure of supply."
After opening these points at considerable
length, and with transcendent ability, Mr.
Burke concluded by moving a series of reso
lutions, in which their substance was embod-
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 91
ied. This masterly speech, in the meditation
and composition of which Mr. Burke, in the
earnestness of his wish to point out to the
members of the House of Commons the true
line of colonial policy, seems to have chasten
ed and checked the exuberance of his genius,
was spoken to the members alone, as during
the debate the standing orders for the exclu
sion of strangers were strictly enforced.
It was answered by Mr. Jenkinson, who
professed serious alarm at the proposition,
that any public body, save parliament, was
entitled to make grants of money to the
crown. These constitutional scruples had
their due weight, and Mr. Burke's resolutions
were negatived by a majority of 270 to 78.
About this time, Dr. Franklin, in a kind of
demi-official communication with ministers,
endeavored to effect a reconciliation between
the colonies and the parent state. In the dis
cussions which took place with this view be
tween the doctor and the agents of the min
istry, most of the points in dispute were set
tled ; but the obstinate refusal of the cabinet
to restore the ancient constitution of Massa
chusetts broke off the conferences ; and Dr.
Franklin, despairing of the preservation of
peace, returned to his native land, determined
to share the fortunes of his countrymen, and,
at all hazards, to devote his talents to the
maintenance of their rights.
In America, the approaching conflict be-
92 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
came daily more apparent. Boston, as the
head-quarters of the army, was particularly
exposed to collisions with them ; and in anti
cipation, every exertion was made to procure
arms and ammunition. Cannon, cannon balls,
powder, muskets, and military stores, were
constantly introduced into the city by every
artifice, and in every disguise. In New
Hampshire a number of armed people seized
on the powder in the royal castle of William
and Mary. Colonel Leslie, who had been
dispatched by Governor Gage to seize some
cannon at Salem, was obstructed by the citi
zens until the cannon were removed beyond
his reach, and he returned without succeed
ing in his object ; and in New York a riotous
combat took place between the populace and
the troops, in which the latter were beaten.
SECTION XII.
AFFAIR AT LEXINGTON, 19TH OF APRIL, 1775.
It has already been stated, that the Mas
sachusetts patriots had resolved to attack
the king's forces whenever they should march
out of Boston. On the 19th of April, 1775,
their adherence to this resolution was put to
the test. With a view of seizing the military
stores and provisions which the insurgents
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 93
had collected at Concord, General Gage, on
the night preceding that eventful day, de
tached from his garrison 800 picked men,
under the command of Lieutenant-colonel
Smith.
These troops made a rapid march to the
place of their destination, in hopes of taking
the malcontents by surprise; but notwith
standing their precautions, the alarm was
given throughout the country, and the inhab
itants flew to arms. Between four and five
o'clock on the morning of the 19th, the ad
vanced guard of the royal troops arrived at
Lexington, where they found about 70 of the
American militia under arms, whom Major
Pitcairn ordered to disperse ; and on their
hesitating to obey his commands, that officer
discharged his pistol, and ordered his soldiers
to fire.
By the volley which ensued three or four of
the militia were killed, and the rest put to
flight. Lieutenant-colonel Smith then pro
ceeded to Concord, where he destroyed the
stores of the insurgents, and then commenced
his retreat towards Boston. He was not,
however, permitted to make this retrograde
movement without molestation. Before he
left Concord he was attacked by the Ameri
can militia and minute-men, who accumula
ting by degrees, harassed his rear and flanks,
taking advantage of every inequality of
ground, and especially availing themselves of
94 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
\
the stone walls which skirted the road, and
which served them as intrenchments.
Had not the detachment been met at Lex
ington by a body of 900 men, which General
Gage had sent out to its support, under the
command of Lord Percy, it would certainly
have been cut off. The united British forces
arrived, wearied and exhausted, at Bunker
Hill, near Boston, a little after sunset, hav
ing sustained a loss of 65 killed, 180 wound
ed, and 28 prisoners.*
* The following is a copy of a hand-bill issued immedi
ately after the engagement at Concord and Lexington.
i A List of the Names of the Provincials who were killed
and wounded in the late engagement with his Majesty's
troops at Concord, $c.
KILLED.
Of Lexington. Of Danvers.
* Mr. Robert Munroe, Mr. Henry Jacobs,
* Mr. Jonas Parker, Mr. Samuel Cook,
* Mr. Samuel Hadley, Mr. Ebenezer Goldthwait,
* Mr. Jonathan Harrington, Mr. George Southwick,
* Mr. Caleb Harrington, Mr. Benjamin Daland, jun.
* Mr. Isaac Muzzy, Mr. Jotham Webb,
* Mr. John Brown, Mr. Perley Putnam.
Mr. John Raymond,
Mr. Nathaniel Wyman, Of Salem.
Mr. Jedediah Munroe. Mr. Benjamin Pierce.
OfMenotomy. Of Charlestown.
™r* TaK°n w ' Mr. James Miller,
Mr. Jabez Wyman, c wmiam Barber,g ^
Mr. Jason Winship.
Of Sudbury. Of Brookline.
Deacon Haynes, Isaac Gardner, Esq.
Mr. Reed.
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 95
When Lord Percy, on his advance, was
marching through Roxbury, his military band,
Of Concord. Of Cambridge.
Capt. James Miles. Mr. John Hicks,
Mr. Moses Richardson,
Of Bedford. Mr. William Massey.
Capt. Jonathan Willson.
Of Medford.
Of Acton. Mr. Henry Putnam.
Capt. Davis,
Mr. Hosmer, Of Lynn.
Mr. James Howard. Mr. Abednego Ramsdelt,
Mr. Daniel Townsend,
Of Woburn. Mr. William Flint,
* Mr. Azael Porter, Mr. Thomas Hadley.
Mr. Daniel Thompson.
WOUNDED.
Of Lexington. Of Medford.
Mr. John Robbins, Mr. William Polly.
Mr. John Tidd,
Mr. Solomon Pierce, Of Lynn.
Mr. Thomas Winship, Mr. Joshua Felt,
Mr. Nathaniel Farmer, Mr. Timothy Munroe.
Mr. Joseph Comee,
Mr. Ebenezer Munroe, Of Danvers.
Mr. Francis Brown, Mr. Nathan Putnam,
Prince Easterbrooks, (a ne- Mr. Dennis Wallis.
gro man.)
Of Beverly.
Of Framingliam. Mr> Nathaniel Cleaves.
Mr. Hemenway.
Of Bedford.
Mr John Lane, MISSING.
Of Woburn. Of Menotomy.
Mr. George Reed, Mr. Samuel Frost,
Mr. Jacob Bacon. Mr. Seth Russel.
Those distinguished with this mark [*] were killed by the
first fire of the Regulars.
96 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
in derision of the Americans, played the tune
of " Yankee Doodle." His lordship observed
a youth who appeared to be amused at this
circumstance, and asking him why he laugh
ed, received this answer, — " To think how
you will dance by-and-by to the tune of
* Chevy Chase/" It had been too much the
habit of the British to despise and insult the
Americans as cowards ; but the event of the
march to Concord convinced them that the
Massachusetts men were not deficient either
in personal courage or in individual skill in
the use of arms.
The results were of the greatest moment.
The blow had been struck by which open
war was commenced, under circumstances
that aroused the universal indignation of the
Americans, while the issue invigorated their
spirits. They had rallied in great numbers
at the signal of strife, and driven the regu
lars with loss, after baffling the object of their
expedition.
SECTION XIII.
BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL, 16TH OF JUNE, 1775.
Blood having been thus drawn, the whole
of the discontented colonies took prompt
measures to resist the royal authority by force
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 97
of arms. Volunteers enrolled themselves in
every province ; and throughout the whole
Union the king's stores were seized for the
use of the insurgents. The surprisal of Ti-
conderoga and Crown Point by a party from
Connecticut, under the command of Colonel
Allen, furnished them with upwards of 100
pieces of cannon, and a proportionable quan
tity of ammunition. Troops were gradually
assembled in the towns and villages in the
vicinity of Boston, so as to hold that town in
a state of blockade. About the latter end
of May, General Gage was reinforced by the
troops which had been sent from Great Brit
ain, and which were accompanied by Gene
rals Howe, Burgoyne, and Clinton.
Finding himself thus strengthened, he pre
pared for active operations ; but wishing ta
temper justice with mercy, on the 12th of
June he issued a proclamation, offering par
don to all who would lay down their arms,
with the exception of Samuel Adams and
John Hancock, " whose offences," he declared,
" were of too flagitious a nature to admit of
any other consideration than that of condign
punishment."
This proclamation produced ho effect on
the Americans, save that of rousing them to
more vigorous exertions. On Charlestown
Neck, a peninsula situated to the north of
Boston, with which it now communicates by
a bridge, is a considerable eminence called
9
98 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
Bunker Hill. As this was deemed a post of
great importance, the Americans resolved to
occupy it, and orders were given by the pro
vincial authorities that a detachment of 1,000
men should intrench themselves on the height
in question.
The party was accordingly moved forward
from Cambridge on the night of the 16th of
June, but, by mistake, commenced their ope
rations on Breed's Hill, an eminence nearer
to the town of Boston than the place of their
destination. Here they labored with such
activity, and at the same time with such si
lence, that the appearance of their works at
daybreak, the next morning, was the first in
dication of their presence.
The firing of guns from the Lively, man-of-
war, whence they were first seen, gave the
alarm to the British, whose commanders, on
reconnoitering the position of the enemy from
the steeples and heights of the city, perceived
that they had thrown up a redoubt about eight
rods square, from which lines extended to the
eastward nearly to the bottom of the hill.
To the westward the works were less perfect ;
but the provincials were busily employed in
carrying them on, notwithstanding they were
exposed to showers of shot and shells discharg
ed from the vessels in the harbor. The necessi
ty of driving the enemy from their position was
evident ; and for this purpose Gage put 3,000
men under the command of General Howe.
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 99
On this occasion the British were not very
alert in their preparations, as it was noon be
fore their troops were embarked in the boats
which were to convey them to Moreton's Point,
at the southern extremity of Charlestown
Neck. At this awful crisis every elevated
spot in the town of Boston was covered with
spectators, who anxiously awaited the event
of the expected contest. Their attention was
first arrested by a dense smoke, which an
nounced that the British, fearing lest the
houses of Charlestown might afford shelter
to the provincials, had set that place on fire.
Proceeding to Moreton's Point, the king's
troops formed in two lines, and marched
slowly up the hill, while their artillery played
on the American works.
The provincials stood firm and steady ; they
reserved their fire till the British had advanced
within sixty or seventy yards of their lines ;
they then made a simultaneous discharge
with so cool an aim, and supported their fire
with so much steadiness, that the British gave
way, and fled to the water's edge. Here they
were rallied by their officers, and a second
time led to the charge. A second time they
retreated, and all seemed to be lost, wher.
General Howe, aided by General Clinton,
who, seeing his distress, had crossed over fr6m
Boston to join him, with difficulty persuaded
them to make another onset, which was suc
cessful.
100 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
The Americans had expended their ammu
nition, and were unable to procure a fresh
supply. Their redoubt being forced, they
were compelled to retreat ; but though the
road over Charlestown Neck, by which they
retired, was enfiladed by the Glasgow, man-
of-war, they withdrew with much less loss
than might have been expected ; they left
dead on the field 139 of their comrades, and
their wounded and missing amounted to 314.
Among the valuable lives which were sac
rificed in this battle, the Americans were
sensibly affected by the loss of Dr. Warren,
who was slain while standing on the redoubt,
animating his fellow-soldiers to the most val
orous exertions. Warren was a man of emi
nent talents, and of most amiable manners in
private and domestic life. He excelled as an
orator, and he was wise and prudent in coun
cil, and the circumstances of his death evinced
that he could act as well as speak, and that
the mildness of his character was united with
firm determination and undaunted courage.
The British purchased their victory dearly,
their loss amounting to 226 killed, and 828
wounded, including 79 officers ; at this cost
General Gage obtained little more than the
field of battle. At the conclusion of the en
gagement he advanced to Bunker Hill, which
he fortified ; wrhile the Americans intrenched
themselves on Prospect Hill, distant about a
mile and a half from his lines.
AMERICAN
Everywliere the tidings of the battles of
Lexington and Bunker Hill stirred up a like
determination to resist and annoy where they
could not expel the British authorities. The
militia were enrolled and armed in Maryland
and Virginia and the two Carolinas. In July,
Georgia had finally acceded to the confedera
tion, which then took the name of " The
Thirteen United Colonies," and resistance be
came popular there. The South proper sent
several companies of riflemen, at once, to the
army at Boston ; and Pennsylvania and New
Jersey contributed numerous recruits. In
New York, a party of patriots seized and car
ried away the cannon from the battery, not
withstanding the deadly opposition from the
British armed forces. And a kindred spirit
was developed in every section of the coun-
try.
SECTION XIV.
UNION OF THE THIRTEEN PROVINCES. HANCOCK AP
POINTED PRESIDENT, AND WASHINGTON COMMAND
ER-IN-CHIEF.
When Colonel Allen appeared at the gates
.of Ticonderoga, on the 10th of May, he sum
moned that fortress " in the name of the Great
Jehovah and the continental Congress." On
9*
'102 AMMlCAJT REVOLUTION.
the very day on which this summons was
given, that body assembled, and had the sat
isfaction to find itself joined by delegates
from Georgia, — so that the union of the thir
teen provinces was now completed. Peyton
Randolph, Esq., was appointed president ; but
urgent business soon after requiring his pres
ence at home, he was succeeded by Mr. Han
cock.
After mature deliberation, the Congress
agreed on addresses to the British nation, to
the Canadians, to Ireland, and to the Island
of Jamaica, in which they insisted upon the
topics upon which they had antecedently
dwelt in similar compositions. Fearful also
lest, in case of the continuance of hostilities
with the mother country, their frontier should
be devastated by the Indians, a talk was pre
pared, in which the controversy between Great
Britain and her colonies was explained in a
familiar Indian style. They were told that
"they had no concern in the family quarrel,
and were urged by the ties of ancient friend
ship and a common birthplace, to remain at
home, to keep their hatchet buried deep, and
to join neither side."
Such is the statement of Mr. Ramsay ; and
so far as Congress is concerned, no doubt that
respectable historian is correct. But had he
carefully examined the official correspondence
of General Washington, he would have found,
from a letter of his dated Ausust 4, 1775, that
AMERICAN RtfVOLUTIOtf.
the American commander-in-ctiief did not
limit his views to neutrality on the part of the
Indians, but that he took measures to secure
the co-operation of the Caghnewaga tribe, in
the event of any expedition being meditated
against Canada.
Still aiming, with however faint hopes, at
conciliation, the Congress drew up another
humble and pathetic petition to the king,
which was delivered on the ensuing Septem
ber, by their agents, to Lord Dartmouth, the
colonial secretary of state, who informed
them that no answer would be returned to it.
They did not, however, confine themselves to
literary controversy, but took measures for
depriving the British troops of supplies. They
also resolved to raise an army sufficient to
enable them to cope with the enemy, and is
sued, for its equipment and pay, bills of credit
to the value of two millions of dollars. With
a happy unanimity they appointed George
Washington commander-in-chief of their
forces.
Soon after he received his commission, the
general repaired to the head-quarters at
Cambridge, in the vicinity of Boston, where
he arrived on the 3d of July, and was receiv
ed with joyful acclamations by the troops.
The army consisted of 14,500 men, and occu
pied cantonments so disposed as closely to
beleaguer the enemy within Boston. The
soldiers were hardy, active, and zealous.
104.' • AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
But still, when the general had minutely
inspected the state of affairs, he found ample
matter for serious reflection. He was desti
tute of a responsible commissariat to procure
and dispense the necessary supplies. Many
of the soldiers were ill-provided with arms.
On the 4th of August, he was apprized of the
alarming fact that his whole stock of powder
would afford little more than nine rounds a
man.
On the settling of the rank of officers, also,
he had to encounter the ill-humor of the am
bitious, who conceived that they were not
promoted according to their merits. With
his characteristic patience and assiduity, how
ever, he overcame these difficulties. By the
influence of the respect which his character
inspired, he reduced these jarring elements
to some degree of order. His encampments
were regularly supplied with provisions. By
extraordinary exertions he procured a suffi
cient stock of ammunition and military stores ;
and though the well-dressed scouting parties-
of the British who approached his lines could
not repress a smile on seeing his soldiers
equipped in hunting-shirts, the affair at
Breed's Hil had taught them that a hand
some uniform is by no means essential to
bravery in battle.
On the 10th of October, General Gage re
signed the command of the British army to
General Howe, and sailed for England in a
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 105
vessel of war. Had he made the voyage in
a transport, he would have run some risk of
being taken prisoner ; for towards the close
of this year, (1775,) Congress fitted out seve
ral privateers, which were eminently success
ful in capturing the store-ships which had
been sent from Great Britain with supplies
for the royal army. These captures at once
crippled the enemy and furnished the Ameri
cans with important requisites for carrying
on the war.
SECTION XV.
INVASION OF CANADA. DEATH OF MONTGOMERY
Nor were the offensive operations of the
provincials confined to the sea. Having, as
has been before related, obtained possession
of Ticonderoga, which is the key of Canada,
the Congress determined to invade that prov
ince, in the hope that its inhabitants would
welcome the forces which they might send
against it, as their deliverers from the yoke
of oppression. They accordingly gave the
command of 1,000 men to Generals Schuyler
and Montgomery, with directions to march
into Canada.
When the expedition had advanced to the
town of St. John's, Schuyler, in consequence
106 AMERICAN REVOLUTION
of the bad state of his health, resigned the
command to his associate, and returned home.
In attacking St. John's, the commander of
which made a brave defence, Montgomery
experienced considerable difficulties in conse
quence of his want of the chief requisites for
conducting a siege ; but he vanquished them
all, and compelled the garrison, consisting of
500 regulars and 100 Canadians, to surrender.
During the progress of the siege, Sir Guy
Carleton, the governor of Canada, had col
lected 800 men at Montreal, for the purpose
of attacking the besieging army ; but he was
driven back by a body of the Vermont militia,
commanded by General Warner.
Montgomery, therefore, proceeded to Mon
treal, the garrison of which attempted to es
cape down the river, but were intercepted
and captured by the American Colonel Eas-
ton : and Governor Carleton himself was so
hard pressed, that he was glad to escape to
Trois Rivieres, whence he proceeded to Que
bec. To this place he was pursued by Mont
gomery, who, in the course of his march,
adopted the wisest measures to gain over the
inhabitants of the province. With the peas
ants he succeeded ; but upon the priests and
the seigneurs, or feudal lords, who foresaw
that a revolution would be detrimental to
their interests, he made little impression. *
While Montgomery was penetrating into
Canada by the St. Lawrence General Arnold,
AMERICAN EVOLUTION.
who afterwards rendered himself infamous by
his treachery, was advancing to co-operate
with him by the way of the Kennebeck river
and the Chaudiere. This route appears upon
the map to be a very direct one ; but it was
beset with formidable difficulties. In their
voyage up the Kennebeck, Arnold and his
comrades had to pull against a powerful
stream interrupted by rapids, over which they
were obliged to haul their boats with exces
sive labor. The space which intervenes be
tween the mouth of the Kennebeck and that
of the Chaudiere was a wild and pathless
forest, through a great part of which they
were compelled to cut their way with hatch
ets ; and so scantily were they furnished with
provisions, that when they had eaten their last
morsel they had thirty miles to travel before
they could expect any further supplies.
In spite of these obstructions, Arnold per
severed in his bold enterprise ; and on the 8th
of November he arrived at Point Levi, oppo
site Quebec ; and had he possessed the means
of immediately passing the St. Lawrence,
such was the panic occasioned by his unex
pected appearance, that it is probable that
the city, in the absence of the governor,
would have surrendered to him. But while
he was collecting craft to effect his passage,
the inhabitants recovered from their conster
nation, the governor arrived, and the place
was put in a posture of defence.
108 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
On the 1st of December, Montgomery, hav
ing effected a junction with Arnold, broke
ground before Quebec. But he labored un
der insuperable disadvantages. His forces
were inferior in number to those of the garri
son. He was destitute of a proper battering
train. His soldiers were daily sinking under
the hardships of a Canadian winter ; and their
term of enlistment was soon to expire.
Seeing that no hopes were left, but that of
the success of a desperate effort, he attempted
to carry the city by assault, and had pene
trated to the second barrier, when he fell by
a musket shot, leaving behind him the char
acter of a brave soldier, an accomplished
gentleman, and an ardent friend of liberty.
Arnold was carried wounded from the field -r
but on the death of his friend he took the
command of the remnant of his forces, which
he encamped at the short distance of three
miles from the city.
SECTION XVI.
EVACUATION OF BOSTON, MARCH 17, 1776.
"While these transactions were carrying on
to the northward of the American continent,
the inhabitants of the middle and southern
provinces were employed in preparing for
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 109
resistance against the demands of the British
government, and in general compelled such
of their governors as took any active meas
ures for the support of royal authority, to con
sult for their safety by taking refuge on board
of ships of war. In Virginia, the imprudence
of Lord Dunmore provoked open hostilities,
in the course of which he burned the town of
Norfolk. By this act, however, and by a pro
clamation, in which he promised freedom to
such of the negroes as should join his stand
ard, he only irritated the provincials, without
doing them any essential injury ; and being
finally driven from the colony, he returned to
England.
Towards the close of this year, the com-
mander-in-chief of the American forces found
himself in circumstances of extreme embar
rassment. " It gives me great distress," thus
he wrote in a letter to Congress of the date
of Sept. 21, 1775, "to be obliged to solicit the
attention of the honorable Congress to the
state of this army, in terms which imply the
slightest apprehension of being neglected^
But my situation is inexpressibly distressing,
to see the winter fast approaching upon a
naked army ; the time of their service within
a few weeks of expiring ; and no provision
yet made for such important events.
" Added to these, the military chest is total
ly exhausted : the paymaster has not a single
dollar in hand ; the commissary-general as-
10
110 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
sures me he has strained his credit, for the
subsistence of the army, to the utmost. The
quarter-master-general is precisely in the
same situation ; and the greater part of the
troops are in a state not far from mutiny upon
the deduction from their stated allowance."
The fact is, that the troops had engaged in
the service of their country with feelings of
ardent zeal ; but, with a mistaken idea that
the contest would be decided by a single
effort, they had limited the time of their ser
vice to a short period, which was ready to
expire.
Congress had appointed a committee, con
sisting of Dr. Franklin, and two other indivi
duals, to organize an army for the year 1776.
But when these gentlemen repaired to head
quarters, and sounded the dispositions of the
troops as to a second enlistment, they did not
find in them the alacrity which they expected.
The soldiers were, as they had evinced in all
services of danger, personally brave ; but they
were unaccustomed to the alternate monoto
ny and violent exertion of a military life, and
their independent spirit could ill brook the
necessary restraints of discipline.
From these causes so many quitted the
camp when the term of their service was ex
pired, that on the last day of the year Wash
ington's muster-roll contained the names of
only 9,650 men. By the exertions of the com
mittee, however, these were speedily rein-
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. Ill
forced by a body of militia, who increased
their numbers to 17,000. Upon these circum
stances, the commander-in-chief, in one of his
despatches to Congress, made the following
striking remarks.
" It is not in the pages of history, perhaps,
to furnish a case like ours — to maintain a
post within musket-shot of the enemy for six
months together without ammunition, and, at
the same time, to disband one army and re
cruit another, within that distance of twenty
odd British regiments, is more, probably, than
ever was attempted. But if we succeed as
well in the last, as we have heretofore in the
first, I shall think it the most fortunate event
of my whole life." It may be permitted us to
conjecture that in these circumstances the
uneasiness of Washington was enhanced by
his consciousness of the risk which he ran in
thus communicating the secret of his difficul
ties to so numerous a body as the Congress.
Had there been found one coward, one traitor,
or even one indiscreet individual in that as
sembly, the British general would have been
apprized of the vast advantages which he had
over his antagonist ; he would have adopted
the offensive, and the cause of American in
dependence would have been lost. But every
colonial senator was faithful to his trust.
Every one was silent as to the real situation
of the army ; and the commander-in-chief still
confidently presented a bold front to the enemy.
112 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
It was well known that the British troops
in Boston were much straitened for provi
sions ; and the militia having joined the army
in expectation of immediate battle, were ea
ger for the onset, and murmured at the delay
of the general in giving the signal for an
assault on the town. They were little aware
of the distresses by which he was embar
rassed. Notwithstanding the Congress had
even sent to the coast of Africa to purchase
gunpowder, his magazines still contained but
a scanty stock of that essential article, and
many of his troops were destitute of muskets.
But he kept to himself the important secret
of the deficiency of his stores, and patiently
submitted to the criticisms which were passed
on his procrastination, till he had made the
requisite preparations. He then proposed to
storm the British lines ; but was advised by
his council of war, in preference to this meas
ure, to take possession of Dorchester heights,*
an eminence which from the southward com
mands the harbor and city of Boston.
To this advice he acceded, and having di
verted the attention of the British garrison by
a bombardment, which was merely a feint, on
the night of the 4th of March he pushed for
ward a working party of 1,200 men, under
the protection of a detachment of 800 troops.
The Americans were very expert in the use
* Now added to Boston and called South Boston
AMERICAN REVOLUTION, 113
of the spade and pickaxe, and by daybreak
they had completed respectable lines of de
fence.
The British admiral no sooner beheld these
preparations, than he sent word to General
Howe, that if the x\mericans were not dis
lodged from their works he could not with
safety continue in the harbor. On the 6th,
Howe had completed his arrangements for
the attack of the enemy's lines, and a bloody
battle was expected ; but the transports in
which his troops were embarked for the pur
pose of approaching the heights by water
were dispersed by a storm ; and the enemy
so industriously took advantage of the conse
quent suspension of his operations to strength
en their position, that when the storm sub
sided he despaired of success in attacking it.
Finding the town no longer tenable, he evac
uated it on the 17th of March, and sailed
with his garrison, which amounted to 7,000
men, to Halifax in Nova Scotia.
In consequence of an implied threat on the
part of General Howe, that if he was inter
rupted by any hostile attack during the em
barkation of his troops, he would set fire to
the town, the British were allowed to retire
without molestation, though their commander,
immediately before his departure, levied con
siderable requisitions for the use of his army
upon the merchants, who were possessed of
woollen and linen goods ; and though the
114 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
soldiery, availing themselves of the relaxation
of military discipline which usually accom
panies the precipitate movements of troops,
indulged themselves, in defiance of orders
issued to the contrary, in all the license of
plunder.
Previously to the evacuation of the place,
Howe spiked all the cannon and mortars which
he was obliged to leave behind him, and de
molished the fortifications of Castle William.
Immediately on the withdrawing of the royal
forces, Washington, entering Boston in tri
umph, was hailed as a deliverer by the ac
clamations of the inhabitants. He also re
ceived the thanks of the Congress and of the
legislature of Massachusetts ; and a medal
was struck in honor of his services in expel
ling the invaders from his native land.
The exultation wirich the Americans felt
at the expulsion of the British from Boston
was tempered by the arrival of sinister intel
ligence from Canada. In sending an expedi
tion into that country, Congress had been in
fluenced by two motives : they wished at
once to secure the junction of the inhabitants
of that province to their union, and to protect
their own northern frontier from invasion.
But the Canadians were little prepared for
the assertion of the principle of freedom ; and
the rapacity of the unprincipled Arnold, and
the misconduct of his troops, had alienated
their affections from the common cause.
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 115
Congress, however, by extraordinary exer
tions, sent to the camp before Quebec, rein
forcements, which, by the 1st of May, increas
ed Arnold's army to the number of 3,000 men.
But his forces were unfortunately weakened by
the ravages of the small-pox ; and reinforce
ments from England having begun to arrive at
Quebec, he determined upon a retreat. In
this retrograde movement the American army
had to encounter difficulties, which to ordina
ry minds would have seemed insurmountable.
On their march through almost impracti
cable roads, they were closely followed, and
frequently brought to action, by an enemy
superior in number. In an ill-advised attack
on Trois Rivieres they sustained considerable
loss, and their forces were for a time sepa
rated, and almost dispersed. But notwith
standing these disasters, General Sullivan,
who conducted the retreat, contrived to save
his baggage, stores, and sick, and led back a
respectable remnant of his army to Crown
Point, where he resolved to make a stand.
Being well aware of the necessity of guard
ing this quarter of their frontier against the
incursions of the British, the Congress sent
thither an army of 12,000 men under the
command of General Gates, who cast up strong
•works at Ticoiideroga, and endeavored to re
tain the command of Lake Champlain by
means of a flotilla, which was built and
equipped with a rapidity hitherto unheard of.
116 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
General Carleton, however, was not behind
hand with him in activity. He speedily fitted
out a superior armament, by means of which he
took or destroyed almost the whole of the Amer
ican vessels. Having thus made himself mas
ter of the lake, he advanced to the vicinity
of Ticonderoga ; but finding that port too
strongly fortified, and too well garrisoned to
be taken by assault, he returned to Quebec.
Valor and military skill were not the highest
characteristics of Sir Guy Carleton. The
kindness which he manifested to his prison
ers, and especially to the sick and wounded
of the Americans who fell into his hands, en
title him to the superior praise of humanity.
SECTION XVII.
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, 4TH OF JULY,
1776.
When the British ministry took the resolu
tion to coerce the discontented colonies by
force of arms, they were little aware of the
difficulty of their undertaking ; and, conse
quently, the means which they adopted for
the execution of their designs, were by no
means commensurate with the object which
they had in view. But when they met the
parliament in October, 1775, they were oblig
ed to confess that the spirit of resistance to
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 117
royal authority was widely diffused through
out the North American provinces, that re
bellion had assumed a bold front, and had
been alarmingly successful.
To supply them with the means of sup
pressing it, parliament readily voted the raising
and equipment of 28,000 seamen, and 55,000
land forces. The bill which provided for this
powerful armament, also authorized his ma
jesty to appoint commissioners, who were to
be empowered to grant pardons to individu
als, to inquire into and redress grievances,
and to receive any colonies, upon their return
to obedience, into the king's peace.
When the colonists were apprized of the
bill having been passed into a law, they treat
ed the offer of pardon with contempt, and
contemplated with anger, but not with dis
may, the formidable preparations announced
by its provisions. Their irritation was ex
cited to the highest pitch when they were in
formed that Lord North had engaged 16,000
German mercenaries to assist in their subju
gation.
Nor did this measure escape severe ani
madversion in the British parliament. It was
warmly censured by many members of the
opposition, especially by Mr. Adair and Mr.
Dunning, who maintained that, in engaging
the services of foreign mercenaries without
the previous consent of parliament, ministers
had violated the provision of the Bill of Rights,
118 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
and that by this infringement of the constitu
tion, they had set a precedent which might
be made available by some future arbitrary
monarch to the destruction of the liberties of
the country.
The command of the British forces was
given to General Howe, who, in arranging
the plan of the campaign, determined, first,
after driving the enemy from Canada, to in
vade their country by the northwestern fron
tier. 2dly, to subdue the southern colonies ;
and, 3dly, to strike at the centre of the Union
by conquering the province of New York,
from which, by means of the Hudson river,
he should be able to co-operate with the royal
army in Canada. The latter province having
been already rescued from the invaders by
Sir Guy Carleton, General Howe committed
the execution of the second part of his plan
to General Clinton and Sir Peter Parker, who
having effected a junction at Cape Fear, re
solved to make an attack upon Charleston.
They accordingly sailed up Ashley river,
on which that place is situated ; but they en
countered so determined an opposition from
a fort hastily erected on Sullivan's Island, and
commanded by Colonel Moultrie, that, after
sustaining considerable loss of men, and much
damage to their shipping, they gave up their
enterprise and sailed to New York. The re
sult of this attempt was highly favorable to
the Americans, as it consoled them for their
AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
losses in the North, inspirecj^them with new
confidence, and, for the ensuing two years
and a half, preserved the southern colonies
from the presence of a hostile force.
The command of the principal British fleet,.
destined to co-operate with General Howe,
had been bestowed upon his brother, Sir
William, who, when his equipment was
finished, sailed directly for Halifax. On his
arrival at that place, he found that the gene
ral, impatient of his delay, had proceeded on
his voyage towards New York, whither he
immediately followed him, and joined him at
Staten Island.
On this junction of the two brothers, their
forces were found to amount to 30,000 men ;
and never, perhaps, was an army better
equipped, or more amply provided with artil
lery, stores, and every requisite for the carry
ing on of vigorous and active hostilities. Far
different was the condition of the American
commander-in-chief. His troops, enlisted for
short periods, had acquired little discipline.
They were scantily clothed and imperfectly
armed. They were frequently in want of
ammunition ; and they were ill-supplied with
provisions. Disaffection to the cause of their
country was also manifested by some of the
inhabitants of New York, who, at the insti
gation of Governor Tryon, had entered into
a conspiracy to aid the king's troops on their
expected arrival.
120 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
In this plot, even some of the army had
been engaged ; and a soldier of the command-
er-in-chief's own guard had, by the unani
mous sentence of a court-martial, been sen
tenced to die for enrolling himself among the
conspirators, and enlisting others in the same
traitorous cause. In these circumstances
Washington could not but regard the ap
proaching contest with serious uneasiness ;
but he, as usual, concealed his uneasiness
within his own bosom, and determined to
fight to the last in the cause of his country.
His firmness was participated by the Con
gress, who, while the storm seemed to be
gathering thick over their heads, beheld it
with eyes undismayed, and now proceeded
with a daring hand to strike the decisive
stroke which forever separated thirteen flour
ishing colonies from their dependence on the
British crown.
It is possible, nay, it is probable, that from
the beginning of the disputes with the mother
country, there may have been some few specu
lators among the American politicians, who
entertained some vague notions and some
uncertain hopes of independence. In every
age, and in every country, there are individ
uals wrhose mental view extends to a wider
circle than that of the community at large,
and unhappy is their destiny if they attempt
to bring their notions into action, or even to
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 12 1
promulgate them, before the season is ripe
unto the harvest.
But no such precipitancy was found among
the partisans of American liberty. Like
Franklin, for year after year, they limited
their wishes to an exemption from parliamen
tary taxation, and to a preservation of their
chartered rights and privileges. But the vio
lent measures of the British ministers altered
their sentiments, and the spectacle of their
countrymen mustering in arms to resist min
isterial oppression, prompted them to bolder
daring. Finding that the British cabinet had
hired foreign troops to assist in their subjuga
tion, they foresaw that they might be reduced
to apply to foreign aid to help them in their
resistance against oppression. But what
power would lend them aid while they re
tained the character of subjects of his Britan
nic majesty ?
Sentiments such as these, having been
industriously and successfully disseminated
throughout the Union, the Congress on the
4th of July, 1776, while the formidable array
of the British fleet was hovering on their
coasts, on the motion of Mr. Richard Henry
Lee, representative of Virginia, passed their
celebrated Declaration of Independence, by
which act they forever withdrew their alle
giance from the king of Great Britain. This
important document is couched in the follow
ing terms : —
11
122 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
" When, in the course of human events, it
becomes necessary for one people to dissolve
the political bands which have connected
them with another, and to assume among the
powers of the earth, the separate and equal
station to which the laws of nature and of
nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to
the opinions of mankind requires that they
should declare the causes which impel them
to the separation.
" We hold these truths to be self-evident,
that all men are created equal ; that they are
endowed by their Creator with certain un-
alienable rights, that among these are life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ; that to
secure these rights, governments are instituted
among men, deriving their just powers from
the consent of the governed ; that whenever
any form of government becomes destructive
of these ends, it is the right of the people to
alter or to abolish it, and to institute new
government, laying its foundation on such
principles, and organizing its power in such
form, as to them shall seem most likely to
effect their safety and happiness.
" Prudence, indeed, will dictate that gov
ernments long established should not be
changed for light and transient causes ; and,
accordingly, all experience hath shown, that
mankind are more disposed to suffer, while
evils are sufferable, than to right themselves
by abolishing the forms to which they are acr
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 123
«ustomed. But when a long train of abuses
and usurpations, pursuing invariably the
same object, evinces a design to reduce them
under absolute despotism, it is their right — it
is their duty, to throw off such government,
and to provide new guards for their future
security.
" Such has been the patient sufferance of
these colonies, and such is now the necessity
which constrains them to alter their former
system of government. The history of the
present king of Great Britain, is a history of
repeated injuries and usurpations, all having
in direct object, the establishment of an abso
lute tyranny over these states. To prove
this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.
" He has refused his assent to laws the most
wholesome and necessary for the public good.
" He has forbidden his governors to pass
laws of immediate and pressing importance,
unless suspended in their operation till his as
sent should be obtained ; and when so sus
pended, he has utterly neglected to attend to
them.
" He has refused to pass other laws for the
accommodation of large districts of people,
unless those people would relinquish the right
of representation in the legislature — a right
inestimable to them, and formidable to ty
rants only.
" He has called together legislative bodies
,at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant
124 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
from the depository of their public records,
for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into
compliance with his measures.
" He has dissolved representative houses
repeatedly, for opposing, with manly firm
ness, his invasions on the rights of his people.
" He has refused, for a long time after such
dissolutions, to cause others to be elected,
whereby the legislative powers, incapable of
annihilation, have returned to the people at
large for their exercise ; the state remaining
in the mean time exposed to all the danger
of invasion from without, and convulsions
within.
" He has endeavored to prevent the popu
lation of these states, for that purpose ob
structing the laws for naturalization of for
eigners, refusing to pass others to encourage
their migration hither, and raising the condi
tions of new appropriations of lands.
" He has obstructed the administration of
justice, by refusing his assent to laws for es
tablishing judiciary powers.
" He has made judges dependent on his
will alone for the tenure of their offices, and
the amount and payment of their salaries.
" He has erected a multitude of new offices,
and sent hither swarms of officers to harass
our people, and eat out their substance.
" He has kept among us, in time of peace,
standing armies, without the consent of our
legislatures.
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 125
" He has affected to render the military in
dependent of, and superior to, the civil power.
" He has combined with others to subject
us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution,
and unacknowledged by our laws, giving his
assent to their acts of pretended legislation ;
" For quartering large bodies of armed
troops among us ;
" For protecting them, by a mock trial,
from punishment for any murders which they
should commit on the inhabitants of these
states ;
"For cutting off our trade with all parts
of the world ;
" For imposing taxes upon us without our
consent ;
" For depriving us, in many cases, of the
benefits of trial by jury ;
" For transporting us beyond the seas to be
tried for pretended offences ;
" For abolishing the free system of English
laws in a neighboring province, establishing
therein an arbitrary government, and enlarg
ing its boundaries, so as to render it at once
an example and fit instrument for introdu
cing the same absolute rule in these colonies ;
" For taking away our charters, abolishing
our* most valuable laws, and altering funda
mentally the form of our governments ;
" For suspending our own legislatures, and
declaring themselves invested with power to
legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
11*
126 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
" He has abdicated government here, by
declaring us out of his protection, and waging
war against us.
" He has plundered our seas, ravaged our
coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the
lives of our people.
" He is, at this time, transporting large ar
mies of foreign mercenaries to complete the
works of death, desolation, and tyranny, al
ready begun, with circumstances of cruelty
and perfidy, scarcely paralleled in the most
barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the
head of a civilized nation.
" He has constrained our fellow-citizens,
taken captive on the high seas, to bear arms
against their country, to become the execu
tioners of their friends and brethren, or to
fall themselves by their hands.
" He has excited domestic insurrections
among us, and has endeavored to bring on
the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless
Indian savages ; whose known rule of war
fare is an undistinguished destruction of all
ages, sexes, and conditions.
" In every stage of these oppressions we
have petitioned for redress in the most hum
ble terms ; our repeated petitions have been
answered only by repeated injury. A prince,
whose character is thus marked by every
act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be
the ruler of a free people.
" Nor have we been wanting in attention
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 127
to our British brethren. We have warned
them from time to time of attempts made by
their legislature to extend an unwarrantable
•jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them
of the circumstances of our emigration and
settlement here. We have appealed to their
native justice and magnanimity, and we have
conjured them by the ties of our common
kindred, to disavow these usurpations, which
would inevitably interrupt our connections
and correspondence. They too have been
deaf to the voice of justice and consanguini
ty. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the ne
cessity which denounces our separation, and
hold them as we hold the rest of mankind,
— enemies in war, in peace, friends.
" We, therefore, the representatives of the
United States of America, in general con
gress assembled, appealing to the Supreme
Judge of the world for the rectitude of our
intentions, do in the name, and by authority
of the good people of these colonies, solemnly
publish and declare, that these united colonies
are, and of right ought to be, FREE and INDE
PENDENT STATES ; that they are absolved from
all allegiance to the British crown ; and that
all political connection between them and the
State of Great Britain is, and ought to be,
totally dissolved ; and that, as free and inde
pendent states, they have full power to levy
war, conclude peace, contract alliances, es
tablish commerce, and do all other acts and
128 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
things which independent states may, of right,
do. And, for the support of this declaration,
with a firm reliance on the protection of Di
vine Providence, we mutually pledge to each
other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred
honor."
SECTION XVIII.
CAPTURE OF LONG ISLAND, 26TH OF AUGUST, 1776.
General Washington was well aware that
New York would be the first object of attack
on the part of the British ; and despairing of
being able to encounter them in the open
field, he resolved to protract the approaching
campaign by carrying on a war of posts.
With this view, after fortifying Long Island,
he threw up various intrenchments on New
York Island, which is bounded on the west
by the Hudson, and on the south and east by
the East river, while to the north it is sepa
rated from the main land by a narrow chan
nel which unites these two streams.
He also constructed two forts, the one on
the Hudson, named Fort Washington, by
which he proposed to maintain his communi
cation with Jersey, while the other, called
Fort Lee, connected his defence with the
province of New York. While he was mak
ing these preparations, he received from
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 129
Pennsylvania a seasonable reinforcement of
10,000 men, raised for the express purpose of
forming a flying camp ; but he was disap
pointed in his expectation of the aid of a
large body of militia. Independently of the
flying camp, his forces, at this moment of
peril, amounted only to 17,225 men.
Before commencing hostilities, the Howes,
with a view of conciliation, or of detaching
the wavering among the colonists from the
cause of the Congress, issued a proclamation,
offering a pardon to such of his majesty's re
bellious subjects as would lay down their
arms, and announcing their powers, on the
fulfilment of certain conditions, to receive
any colony, district, or place, into the king's
peace.
This proclamation produced no effect be
yond the districts from time to time occupied
by the royal army. General Howe also endeav
ored to open a correspondence with Wash
ington, for the purpose of laying a ground
for the amicable adjustment of all differences
between the colonies and the mother country ;
but as the British commander did not recog
nise the official character of Washington in
the address of his letter, it was returned un
opened, and thus this attempt at negotiation
failed.
The letter of General Howe was directed
simply to George Washington, Esq. The let
ter was returned, not, as General Washington
130 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
informed Congress, upon a mere point of per
sonal punctilio, but because, in a " public
point of view," it was due to his " country
and appointment" to insist upon respect to
the commander-in-chief of the American
forces. Congress applauded his course, and
directed, by resolution, that no letter nor com
munication from the enemy should be received
by any officer whatever, unless directed to
him properly in his official capacity.
A second letter, brought by Adjutant-gene
ral Patterson, addressed to George Washing
ton, &c., &c., &c., was in like manner de
clined. To the remark that these et ceteras im
plied every thing, and were not liable to the
previous objection, General Washington re
plied that they implied any thing, and he
should in consequence refuse to receive all
communications not explicitly acknowledging
his public capacity. Gen. Patterson con
cluded a long conference, managed on both
sides writh great dignity and courtesy, by re
marking that the commissioners had " great
powers," and would be happy to effect an
accommodation. " Their powers," rejoined
Washington, " are only to grant pardons.
They who have committed no fault, want no
pardon."
Those who are accustomed to the rapid
proceedings of more modern warfare, cannot
give to General Howe the praise due to ac
tivity. Though he arrived at Staten Island
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 131
on the 10th of June, it was not till the 26th
of August that he commenced active opera
tions against the enemy by an attack on Long
Island, on the northwestern part of which a
respectable force of Americans, commanded
by General Sullivan, occupied an intrenched
camp. Their position was protected in front
by a range of hills stretching across the Is
land, from the Narrows, a strait, which sepa
rates it from Staten Island, to the town of
Jamaica, situated on the southern coast.
Over the hills in question pass three defen
sible roads, each- of which was guarded by
800 men. The pass by the Narrows was at
tacked and carried by General Grant ; the
second, by Flatbush, was cleared by General
de Heister, in retreating before whom the
Americans were encountered by General
Clinton, who with the right wing of the
British army, had made a detour by Jamaica.
Thus the provincials were driven into their
lines with the loss of upwards of 1,000 men,
while the British loss did not amount to more
than 450.
During the engagement Washington had
sent strong reinforcements into Long Island,
and, at its close, he repaired thither in per
son, with the greater part of his army.
This movement had nearly occasioned his
ruin. He soon found himself cooped up in a
corner, with a superior force in front prepared
to attack his works, which were untenable.
132 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
In these circumstances his only safety lay
in retreat. It was a difficult operation to
convey a whole army across a ferry in the
presence of an enemy, whose working parties
could be heard by his sentries. But favored
by the darkness of the night, and by a fog
which arose in the morning, he transported
the whole of his force to New York, leaving
nothing behind him but some heavy cannon.
SECTION XIX.
EVACUATION OF NEW YORK, 1ST OF SEPTEMBER,
1776.
Among the prisoners taken by the British
on Long Island was General Sullivan, whom
General Howe sent on his parole with a mes
sage to Congress, renewing his offers to nego
tiate for an amicable accommodation. The
Congress sent a committee of three of their
body, — Dr. Franklin, John Adams, and Ed
ward Rutledge, to confer with him on the
subject of his communication. These depu
ties were received with great politeness by
General Howe ; but, after a full discussion
with the British commander, they reported to
Congress that his proposals were unsatisfac
tory, and his powers insufficient. Their re
port concluded in the following terms :—
AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
" It did not appear to your committee, that
his lordship's commission contained any other
authority than that expressed by the act of
parliament, — namely, that of granting par
dons, with such exceptions as the commission
ers shall think proper to make, and of declar
ing America or any part of it to be in the
king's peace on submission ; for, as to the
power of inquiring into the state of America,
which his lordship mentioned to us, and of
conferring arid consulting with any persons
the commissioners might think proper, and
representing the result of such conversation
to the ministry, who, provided the colonies
would subject themselves, might, after all, or
might not, at their pleasure, make any alter
ations in the former instructions to governors,
or propose in parliament any amendment of
the acts complained of; we apprehend any
expectation from the effect of such power
would have been too uncertain and precarious
to be relied on by America, had she still con
tinued in her state of dependence." This at
tempt at negotiation having thus fruitlessly
terminated, nothing was left but to decide the
dispute by arms.
The Congress embraced this alternative in
circumstances which would have reduced
men of less resolute spirits to despair. Their
army was so dispirited by the events which
had taken place in Long Island, that the mi
litia began to desert, and the constancy of
12
134 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
some of the regulars was shaken. They
were apprized, too, that Washington foresaw
the necessity of making a series of retrograde
movements, which were calculated to cloud
the public mind with despondency.
The prognostics of the general were soon
verified. On the 15th of September, General
Howe effected a landing on New York Island,
and compelled him to evacuate the city of New
York, and to retire to the north end of the island.
Here Howe unaccountably suffered him to
remain unmolested for nearly four weeks, at
the end of which time he manoeuvred to
compel him to give him battle on the island.
Dreading the being reduced to this perilous
necessity, the American commander withdrew
to the White Plains, taking, however, every
opportunity to front the enemy, and engaging
in partial actions, which in some degree kept
the British in check.
At length he crossed the Hudson, and oc
cupied some strong ground on the Jersey shore
of that river, in the neighborhood of Fort
Lee. He had no sooner evacuated New
York Island than General Howe attacked and
took Fort Washington, in which he made
2,700 men prisoners, at the cost, however, of
1,200 men on his side killed and wounded.
Fort Lee was shortly after evacuated by its
garrison, and taken possession of by Lord
Cornwallis. Following up these successes,
General Howe pursued the flying Americans
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 135
to Newark, and from Newark to Brunswick,
and from Brunswick successively to Prince
ton and Trenton, till at length he drove them to
the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware. It fre
quently happened that as the rear of the Amer
icans left a village on one side, the advance
guard of the British entered it at the other.
Nothing could exceed the distress which
the American army suffered during this re
treat through the Jerseys. They were desti
tute of blankets and shoes, and their clothing
was reduced to rags. They were coldly
looked upon by the inhabitants, who gave
up the cause of America for lost, and hasten
ed to make their peace with the victors. Had
General Howe been able to maintain disci
pline in his army, Jersey would have been
severed from the Union. But, fortunately for
interests of the Congress, his troops indulged
in all the excesses of military violence, and
irritated the inhabitants of the country to
such a degree, that their new-born loyalty
was speedily extinct, and all their thoughts
were bent upon revenge.
SECTION XX.
BATTLE OF TRENTON, 28TH DECEMBER, 1776.
On the approach of the British to the Dela
ware, Congress adjourned its sittings from
l36 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
Philadelphia to Baltimore, and it was ex
pected that General Howe would speedily
make his triumphal entry into the Pennsyl-
vanian capital. But a bold manoeuvre of
Washington suddenly turned the tide of suc
cess. On his arrival at the Delaware, his
troops were dwindled down to the number of
3,000 ; but having received some reinforce
ments of Pennsylvania militia, he determined
to endeavor to retrieve his fortunes by a de
cisive stroke. The British troops were can
toned in Burlington, Bordentown, and Tren
ton, waiting for the formation of the ice to
cross into Pennsylvania.
Understanding that in the confidence pro
duced by a series of successes, they were by
no means vigilant, he conceived the possibili
ty of taking them by surprise. He accord
ingly, on the evening of Christmas day, con
veyed the main body of his army over the
Delaware, and falling upon the troops quar
tered in Trenton, killed and captured about
960 of them, and re-crossed into Pennsylvania
with his prisoners.
On the 28th of December, he again took
possession of Trenton, where he was soon
encountered by a superior force of British,
who drove in his advanced parties, and en
tered the town in the evening, with the in
tention of giving him battle the next morning.
The two armies were separated only by a
narrow creek, which runs through the town.
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 137
In such a position it should seem to be im
possible that any movement on the one side
or on the other could pass unobserved. The
situation of Washington was now exceedingly
critical ; with a superior army in front, he
knew defeat to be certain in a pitched battle ;
and to retreat over the Delaware encumbered
by floating ice, difficult and dangerous. To
fight was to lose all the benefits of the late
victories upon the spirits, as well as upon the
fortunes, of the Americans ; and a retreat,
besides the peril, was little less disheartening.
With his usual sagacity and boldness, he
struck out another extraordinary scheme,
which was accomplished with consummate
skill, and followed by the happiest results.
In the darkness of the night, Washington,
leaving his fires lighted, and a few guards to
attract the attention of the enemy, quitted his
encampment, and, crossing a bridge over the
creek, which had been left unguarded, direct
ed his march to Princeton, where, after a short
but brisk engagement, he killed 60 of the Brit-
ishf and took 300 prisoners. The rest of the
royal forces were dispersed, and fled in differ
ent directions. Great was the surprise of
Lord Cornwallis, wrho commanded the British
army at Trenton, when the report of the ar
tillery at Princeton, which he at first mistook
for thunder, and the arrival of breathless
messengers, apprized him that the enemy
was in his rear,
12*
138 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
Alarmed by the danger of his position, he
commenced a retreat ; and, being harassed
by the militia and the countrymen who had
suffered from the outrages perpetrated by his
troops on their advance, he did not deem him
self in safety till he arrived at Brunswick,
from whence, by means of the Raritan, he had
a communication with New York.
This splendid success inspired the Ameri
cans with renewed spirits. Recruits were
readily raised for their army, which took up
its winter-quarters at Morristown, about 30
miles to the northward of Brunswick ; here
both the officers and soldiers were inoculated
for the small-pox. During this interval of
comparative leisure, Washington urgently re
newed the representations which he had be
fore frequently made to the Congress, of the
necessity of abandoning the system of enlist
ing men for limited terms of service. The
dread justly entertained by that body of a
standing army had hitherto induced them to
listen coldly to his remonstrances on this point.
But the experience of the last campaign
corrected their views, and they resolved
to use their utmost exertion to raise an army
pledged to serve till the conclusion of the
war.
The free spirit of the Americans, however,
could not brook enlistment for a time so un
defined, and the Congress therefore issued
proposals for a levy of soldiers to be engaged
AMERICAN REVOLUTION*. 139
for three years, at the same time offering a
bounty of 100 acres of land to those who
would accept their first proposals. Though
these measures in the end proved effectual,
their accomplishment was slow, and in the
spring of 1777, Washington's whole force did
not amount to more than 1,500 men; but
with these inconsiderable numbers he so dis
posed his posts, that with the occasional as
sistance of the New Jersey militia and volun
teers, he for some weeks kept the British in
check at Brunswick.
At this period, the difficulties under which
he had so long labored from the want of arms
and military stores, were alleviated by the
arrival of upwards of 20,000 muskets, and
1,000 barrels of powder, which had been pro
cured in France and Holland by the agency
of the celebrated dramatist, Carron de Beau-
marchais.
Late in the spring of 1777, however, the
utmost exertions of Congress in forwarding
the recruiting service could put no more than
7,272 effective men at the disposal of General
Washington. With this small force it was
manifestly his policy to gain time, and by
occupying advantageous ground, to avoid be
ing forced to a general engagement. With
a view, however, of inspiriting his country
men, he took the field before the enemy had
quitted their winter-quarters, and towards the
end of May he made a movement from Mor-
140 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
ristown to Middlebrook, where he encamped
in a strong position.
General Howe no sooner heard that the
Americans were in motion, than he advanced
from Brunswick to Somerset courthouse, ap
parently with an intention of pushing for the
Delaware ; but the country rising in arms
on every side of him, he was deterred from
prosecuting this design, and hastily measured
back his steps to his former position. On
their retreat, his troops committed great rav
ages, and particularly incensed the inhabit
ants by burning some of their places of wor
ship.
After frequently trying in vain to entice
Washington from his strong position, General
Howe at length retired to Amboy. There
learning that his adversary had descended to
Quibbletown, he hastened back to attack him ;
but had the mortification on his arrival at the
spot lately occupied by the Americans, to
learn that his vigilant foe had withdrawn
into his fastnesses. Despairing of being able
to penetrate into Pennsylvania by the way of
the Jerseys, he passed over into Staten Island,
from which point he resolved to prosecute
the future views of his campaign by the as
sistance of his fleet.
What those views might be, it was difficult
for Washington to ascertain. The whole
coast of the United States was open to the
British commander-in-chief. He might at his
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 141
pleasure sail to the north or to the south.
General Washington was inclined to believe
that his intention was to move up Hudson
river to co-operate with General Burgoyne,
who was advancing with a large army on
the Canadian frontier; and, impressed with
this idea, he moved a part of his army to
Peekskill, while he posted another portion at
Trenton, to be ready, if required, to march to
the relief of Philadelphia.
While he was in this state of uncertainty,
he received intelligence that Howe had em
barked with 16,000 men, and had steered to
the southward. Still apprehending that this
might be a feint, he cast an anxious eye to
the northward, till he was farther informed
that the British General, after looking into
the Delaware, had proceeded to the Chesa
peake.
The plans of the invaders were then clearly
-developed. It was evident that they intended
to march through the northern part of the
state of Delaware, and take possession of
Philadelphia.
To meet the emergency, the Pennsylvania!!
militia were called out to rendezvous at
Chester, and those of New Jersey were sum
moned at Gloucester.
Much time was lost to the British by their
voyage, in consequence of unfavorable winds.
Though they set sail on the 23d of July, they
did not arrive at Elk-ferry, the place fixed
142 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
upon for their landing, till the 25th of August.
General Howe had no sooner disembarked his
troops, than he advanced through the country
by forced marches, to within two miles of the
American army, which, having proceeded
rapidly from Jersey to the present scene of
action, was stationed at Newport.
SECTION XXI.
CAPTURE OF PHILADELPHIA, 26TH OF SEPTEMBER,
1776
On the approach of the enemy, General
Washington resolved to dispute their passage
over the Brandywine creek. In taking this
step he appears to have acted contrary to his
better judgment. By throwing himself upon
the high ground to his right, he might have
brought on a war of posts, much better adapt
ed to the capacities of his undisciplined forces,
than a battle fought on equal terms. But he
dreaded the impression which would be made
upon the public feeling, should he leave the
road to Philadelphia open, and yielded to the
general voice, which called upon him to fight
for the preservation of the seat of the Amer
ican government. The action was fought at
Chadd's ford, on the Brandywine, on the llth
of September.
The battle of the Brandywine was hence
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 143
hazarded by Washington, more in compliance
with the public call for decisive action, and
the impatience of delay, than in accordance
with his own judgment. His army was infe
rior in numbers and discipline, and he might
easily have assumed a position among the
hills, too strong to be forced, which would
have retarded the royal troops, and forced
them to waste the season to little purpose.
But delay had dissatisfied both Congress and
the public expectation, and it was determined
to try the fortune of battle.
On this occasion Howe showed his gene
ralship by the skilfulness of his combinations.
While a part of his army, under the command of
General Knyphausen, made a false attack at the
ford, a strong column, headed by Lord Cornwal-
lis, crossing the Brandy wine at its fork, turned
the left of the Americans, and Knyphausen
forcing a passage at that moment of alarm
and confusion, the Americans gave way, and
retired to Chester, their retreat being covered
by Wooster's brigade, which preserved its
ranks unbroken. Their loss in killed and
wounded amounted to 1,200.
Among the latter was the Marquis de La
fayette, who, inspired with zeal for the cause
of freedom, had, at the age of nineteen, quit
ted his country at considerable hazard, and
entered into the American army, in which he
at once obtained the rank of major-general.
On this occasion, too, Count Pulaski, a noble
144 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
Pole, who had distinguished himself at home,
led on the light horse with undaunted courage
and gallantry. As a reward for it, Congress
testified their sense of his merit, by promo
ting him to the rank of brigadier, and giving
him the command of the cavalry.
By the event of the battle of the Brandy-
wine the country was in a great degree open
to the British. Washington in vain made one
or two attempts to impede their progress, and
on the 26th of September, General Howe
made his triumphant entry into Philadelphia.
On his approach the Congress, who had re
turned thither from Baltimore, once more took
flight, and withdrew first to Lancaster and
afterwards to Yorktown.
General Howe, on marching to the Penn-
sylvanian capital, had left a considerable
number of troops at Germantown, a few
miles from that place. As these were unsup
ported by the main body of his army, Gene
ral Washington determined upon an attempt
to cut them oft'. His plan was well laid, and
the forces which he despatched on this expe
dition took the enemy by surprise, and at first
drove all before them. But a check having
been given them by a small party of the
British who had thrown themselves into a
stone house, they were soon opposed by the
fugitives who had rallied in force, and obliged
to retreat with loss.
The American loss on this occasion was
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 145
about 200 killed, 600 wounded, and several
hundred prisoners. Among the killed was
General Nash, of North Carolina. Of the
British, the killed were about 100 in number,
and the wounded 400.
General Howe immediately broke up his
encampment at Germantown, and removed
his whole force into the city. However, he
found the result very different from what he
imagined. Provisions soon grew scarce ;
and Washington, to cut off his supplies, pro
claimed martial law, under the authority of
Congress, against all citizens who should at
tempt to furnish the enemy with them. Thus
situated, General Howe found, as Franklin
sarcastically remarked, that, " instead of tak
ing Philadelphia, Philadelphia had taken
him."
When General Howe quitted New York
for the purpose of gaining possession of Phil
adelphia, he was deterred from making his
approaches by the Delaware, by the prepara
tions made by the Americans to obstruct the
navigation of that river. The principal of
these consisted of a fort erected on Mud Is
land, which is situated in the middle of the
river, about seven miles below the city. On
a height on the Jersey side of the river, called
Red Bank, they had erected a strong battery.
The channels on both sides of Mud Island
were closed by strong and heavy chevaux de
frise, through which was left a single passage
13
146 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
closed by a boom. As it was absolutely ne
cessary to make himself master of these
works, in order to open a communication
with his fleet, General Howe gave orders
that they should be forced.
In his first attack he was unsuccessful. In
storming the battery of Red Bank, Count
Donop was mortally wounded, and his troops
were repulsed with considerable loss. But
the bulk of the chevaux de frise having, by
diverting the current of the river, deepened
the channel on the Pennsylvania side of Mud
Island, a ship of war mounted with twenty-
four pounders was warped through it into a
position where she could enfilade the fort,
which, being no longer tenable, the garrison
retired from it to Red Bank. By these oper
ations General Howe obtained full command
of the Delaware, and by its means, every facil
ity for the conveyance of supplies to his army.
Mr. Hancock having, on the 29th of Octo
ber of this year, resigned the presidency of
Congress, on the 1st of November ensuing,
Mr. Henry Laurens was appointed to succeed
him.
SECTION XXII.
BURGOYNE'S EXPEDITION.
When the news of General Howe's success
arrived in England, the great majority of the
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 147
nation were transported with joy. In the de
feat of Washington, the capture of Philadel
phia, and the expulsion of Congress, the
members of which were represented as miser
able fugitives, seeking in trembling anxiety
for a temporary shelter from the vengeance
of the law, they fondly saw an earnest of the
termination of the war by the submission of
the rebels. But their exultation was speedily
damped by the annunciation of the capture
by these very rebels of a whole British army.
A cursory inspection of the map of the
United States will suffice to show, that for
the purpose of their subjugation, it was at
this period of high importance to the British
to form a communication with Canada by
means of Hudson river. This would have
intersected the insurgent provinces, and by
cutting off their intercourse with each other,
and by hemming in the eastern states, which
the British ministry regarded as the soul of the
rebellious confederacy, would have exposed
them to be overran and conquered in detail.
General Burgoyne, who had served in Can
ada in the campaign of 1776, under General
Carleton, arrived at Quebec in the beginning
of the month of May, 1777, and was followed
by a large regular force from England, de
signed to make a descent upon the United
States through Lake Champlain, and effect
a junction with Sir William at New York.
This plan had always found favor with the
148 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
ministry, and had been earnestly pressed upon
them by Burgoyne on his return from Ameri
ca. It was hence determined to provide a
powerful army, well appointed in every re
spect, to make success certain.
General Howe, therefore, was directed by
the ministry to operate with a part of his
army northwards from New York, while
General Burgoyne was instructed to enter
the state of New York by its northwestern
frontier, and to make his way good to Albany,
where it was intended that he should form a
junction with the forces which Howe should
send to co-operate with him. The expediency
of this plan was so obvious that it did not es
cape the foresight of the Americans, who, in
order to obviate it, had strongly fortified Ti-
conderoga, and the adjacent height of Mount
Independence. They had also taken meas
ures to obstruct the passage from Lake Cham-
plain, and had moreover strengthened the
defences of the Mohawk river. For garri
soning these posts, and for conducting the
requisite operations in the field, they gave
orders to raise an army of 1 3,600 men.
The British army destined to act under
Burgoyne consisted of 7,000 regulars, fur
nished with every requisite for war, espe
cially with a fine train of artillery. These
were supported by a number of Canadians,
and a considerable body of Indians. It was
arranged, in the plan of the campaign, that
AMERICAN REVOLUTION,
while Burgoyne, at the head of these forces
should pour into the state of New York, from
Lake Champlain, a detachment under the
command of Colonel St. Leger shoiild march
towards Lake Ontario, and penetrate in the
direction of Albany, by the Mohawk river,
which falls into the Hudson a little above
that town.
General Burgoyne having arrived at Que
bec, and immediately putting himself at the
head of his army, he proceeded up Lake
Champlain to Crown Point. Here he was
joined by the Indians, to whom he made a
speech, in which he inculcated upon them the
virtue of mildness, and strictly forbade them
to destroy any persons except in battle. An
ancient Iroquois chieftain, in the name of his
comrades, promised strict compliance with
the general's injunctions.
Having, however, fully secured the co-oper
ation of the Indians, he endeavored to improve
the advantage their alliance gave him, in in
timidating the Americans. On the 29th of
June, he issued a proclamation, with the de
sign of spreading terror among them, magni
fying the force of the armies and fleets pre
pared to crush the revolted colonies, and
insisting upon the numbers and ferocity of
their Indian allies. Promises of favor and
support wer%e held out to such as should aid
In est iblishing the government of the king,
-and all the horrors of devastation threatened
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150 AMERICAN REVOLUTION
against those who should persist in rebellion.
Thousands of Indians, he admonished them,
were ready, at his bidding, to be let loose
against " the hardened enemies of Great Bri
tain and America."
This proclamation justly provoked some
animadversion in England, and was strongly
censured by both houses of parliament. In
the United States it kindled a general indig
nation at the atrocity of its sentiments, min
gled with derision at its pompous denuncia
tions. The temper of the people was too
stern for such intimidations, and his grandilo
quent threats of Indian massacres, served to
inflame resentment, and stimulate resistance.
From Crown Point the royal army directed
its march to Ticonderoga. Here General
Burgoyne expected to encounter a powerful
opposition, as he well knew that the Ameri
cans had flattered themselves that by the for
tifications which they had erected on it, they
had rendered it almost impregnable. But the
forces which had been destined to its defence
had not arrived. General St. Clair had not
men enough to man his lines. He saw his
position nearly surrounded by the enemy, who
were erecting a battery on a hill which com
manded his intrenchments.
In these circumstances, a council of war
unanimously recommended to their command
er the evacuation of Ticonderoga, which he
effected with such good order and secre-
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 151
ey, that he was enabled to bring off a great
part of the public stores. He left behind him,
however, ninety-three pieces of ordnance,
which fell into the hands of the British. The
retreating Americans took the road to Skeens-
borough, which is situated at the southern
extremity of Lake George.
In their flight they were briskly pursued
by General Fraser by land, while Burgoyne
attacked and destroyed their flotilla on Lake
George ; and so closely were they pressed by
this combined movement, that they were com
pelled to set fire to their stores and boats at
Skeensborough, and take refuge in Fort Anne,
a few miles to the southward of that place.
Here, however, they did not long find shelter.
Their rear-guard was attacked and routed by
Colonel Fraser, at Hubbardton ; and Lieu
tenant-colonel Hill having been sent forward
from Skeensborough, by General Burgoyne,
with the 9th regiment of foot, to make an
assault on Fort Anne, the provincials, after a
short but brisk engagement, "withdrew to
Fort Edward, which is situated on the Hud
son river. Here their scattered forces being
collected, were found to amount to no more
than 4,400 men, who being unable to cope
with their victorious pursuers, soon found
themselves under the necessity of making
another retrograde movement in the direction
of Albany.
This long series of successes filled the
152 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
minds of the British with exultation. They
had beaten the enemy in every encounter ;
had forced them from their fastnesses, and
entertained sanguine hopes of driving them
before them till the co-operating force which
they presumed General Howe was sending
up the Hudson should intercept their retreat,
and put them between two fires. Burgoyne
issued proclamations in the style of a con
queror, summoning the inhabitants of the dis
trict in which he was operating to aid his
pursuit of the fugitive rebels. The assistance
which he called for was very necessary, not
for pursuit, but defence — his difficulties were
now commencing.
Instead of falling back from Skeensborough,
to Ticonderoga, and advancing from the lat
ter place by Lake George, (a movement
which he declined, as having the appearance
of a retreat,) he determined to march across
the country from Skeensborough to Fort Ed
ward ; but the road was so broken up — it
was so intersected with creeks and rivulets,
the bridges over which had been broken
down, and so much embarrassed with trees
cut down on each side, and thrown across it
with entangled branches, that it was with
immense labor he could advance a mile a
day. When he had at length penetrated to
Fort Edward, which he reached on the 30th
of July, he found it abandoned by the enemy,
who by their retreat left free his communica-
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 153
tion with Lake George, from which he ob
tained supplies of stores and provisions con
veyed by land from Fort George to Hudson
river, and thence floated down to his camp.
SECTION XXIII.
FAILURE OF BURGOYNfi's EXPEDITION.
This delay gave the Americans time to
recover from the consternation into which
they had been thrown by the loss of Ticon-
deroga, and the subsequent misfortunes of
their army. Determined to make amends for
their previous dilatoriness by instant activity,
they flew to arms. The plundering of Jersey
had taught them that peaceable conduct and
submission afforded no protection against
British rapine ; and they were persuaded,
that whatever might be the wishes of General
Burgoyne, he had not power to restrain his
Indian auxiliaries from practising their ac
customed savage mode of warfare. Looking
for safety, then, only to their swords, and
judging from their knowledge of the country,
that the further the British commander ad
vanced, the greater would be his difficulties,
they hastened their reinforcements from every
town and hamlet in the vicinity of the seat
I
154 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
of war, and soon increased the army of St.
Clair to the number of 13,000 men.
While General Burgoyne was making his
way to the Hudson, Lieutenant-colonel St.
Leger had arrived at the Mohawk river, and
was laying siege to Fort Schuyler. Receiv
ing intelligence that General Herkimer was
hastening at the head of a body of troops to
the relief of the place, he sent a detachment
with instructions to lie in ambush on his line
of march, and to cut him off. These instruc
tions were so well obeyed, that Herkimer fell
into the snare, his troops were dispersed, and
he himself was killed. St. Leger now enter
tained sanguine hopes of speedily taking the
fort ; but the Indians who composed a con
siderable part of his little army, taking alarm
at the news of the approach of General Ar
nold, at the head of a detachment, whose
numbers were purposely exaggerated by an
American emissary in their camp, insisted on
an immediate retreat. This mutiny com
pelled St. Leger to raise the siege, and to re
tire to Canada, leaving behind him a great
part of his artillery and stores.
When General Burgoyne was informed of
the arrival of St. Leger before Fort Schuyler,
he thought it very expedient to make a for
ward movement towards Albany, for the pur
pose of co-operating with that officer, and
also with the British troops who were, as he
expected, advancing up the Hudson. The
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 155
principal objection to this step was, that it
would necessarily remove him to a perilous
distance from his supplies, which were col
lected at Fort Edward. With a view, there
fore, of procuring a plentiful stock of provi
sions from a nearer point, he despatched
Lieutenant-colonel Baum with 600 men, of
whom 100 were Indians, with instructions to
seize and convey to his camp a considerable
magazine of flour and other supplies which
the Americans had established at Benning-
ton, in the district of Vermont.
Baum, being erroneously informed that the
inhabitants of that part of the country were
favorably disposed towards the British, march
ed forwards without due precaution, till, on
approaching Bennington, he found the enemy
assembled in force in his front. In this exi
gency he took possession of an advantageous
gost, where he intrenched himself, and sent to
urgoyne for succor. Colonel Breyman was
detached to reinforce him ; but before the ar
rival of that officer, the fate of his country
man was decided. Baum had been attacked
by the American General Stark, had lost his
field-pieces, and had witnessed the death or
capture of most of his detachment. On his
arrival at the scene of slaughter, Breyman
was also vigorously assailed, and compelled
to retreat with the loss of his artillery. The
royalists lost in these two battles about 700
156 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
men, the greater part prisoners. The Amer
ican loss was about 70.
The failure of this expedition was most
disastrous to the British commander-in-chief,
who, being disappointed of receiving the ex
pected supplies from Vermont, was obliged
to await the arrival of provisions from Fort
George, by which he was delayed from the
15th of August to the 13th of September.
This interval of time was well improved by
the Americans, who, flushed with their suc
cess against Baum and Breyman, pressed on
the British with increased numbers and in
creased confidence. They were also cheered
to vigorous exertion by the arrival at this
critical moment of General Gates, who was
commissioned by Congress to take the com
mand of the northern army.
After most anxious deliberation, Gene
ral Burgoyne, having by extraordinary ex
ertions collected provisions for thirty days,
crossed the Hudson river on the 13th of Sep
tember, and advanced to within two miles of
General Gates's camp, which was situated
about three miles to the northward of Still-
water. Gates boldly advanced to meet him,
and a hard-fought battle ensued, which, though
not decisive, was very detrimental to the
British, as it shook the fidelity of their Indian
allies and of the Canadians, who now began
to desert in great numbers.
The desertion of the Indians was accele-
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 157
rated by the following tragical incident. Miss
JVTRea, an American lady, who resided in the
vicinity of the British encampment, being en
gaged to marry Captain Jones, an officer of
Burgoyne's army, her lover, being anxious for
her safety, as he understood that her attach
ment to himself and the loyalty of her father
had rendered her an object of persecution to
her countrymen, engaged some Indians to es
cort her within the British lines, promising to
reward the person who should bring her safe
to him, with a barrel of rum. Two of these
emissaries having found the destined bride,
and communicated to her their commission,
she, without hesitation, consented to accom
pany them to the place of meeting appointed
by Captain Jones. But her guides unhappily
quarrelling on the way, as to which of them
should present her to Mr. Jones and receive
the promised recompense, one of them, to
terminate the dispute, cleft her skull with his
tomahawk, and laid her dead at his feet.
This transaction struck the whole British
army with horror. General Burgoyne, on
hearing of it, indignantly demanded that the
murderer should be given up to condign pun
ishment. Prudential considerations, however,
prevented his being put to death, as he well
deserved. Burgoyne was of opinion, that his
pardon upon terms would be more efficacious
in preventing further barbarities than his ex
ecution : he, therefore, spared his life, upon.
14
158 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
condition that his countrymen would, from
that time forth, abstain from perpetrating any
cruelties on the unarmed inhabitants, or on
those whom they had vanquished in battle.
As the Earl of Harrington at a subsequent
period stated in his examination before the
House of Commons, he told their interpreter
" that he would lose every Indian rather than
connive at their enormities." The savages
at first seemed willing to comply with his re
newed injunctions ; but resentment rankled in
their breasts at his interference with their
habits of warfare, the respect with which
they had once looked up to him was impaired
by their knowledge of the difficulties of his
situation, and they soon began to quit the
camp, loaded with their accumulated plun
der.
Thus checked in his progress, and deserted
by his allies, Burgoyne sent urgent letters to
Sir Henry Clinton, who commanded at New
York, entreating him to hasten forwards the
co-operative forces on which he relied for
safety and success, and apprizing him that
want of provisions would preclude him from
remaining in his present position beyond
the 12th of October. This renewed delay
dispirited his own troops, and swelled the
numbers of the hostile army, which received
recruits from every quarter.
On the 7th of October, Burgoyne in person,
accompanied by Generals Phillips, Reidesel,,
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 159
and Fraser, issued from his camp at the head
of 1,500 men, for the purpose of making a
reconnoissance and of foraging. This move
ment brought on a general engagement, at
the close of which the British were driven
within their lines, and a part of them was
forced. This circumstance compelled Bur-
goyne to change his position, which manoeuvre
he performed in a masterly manner, and with
out sustaining any loss. It was, indeed, from
this time, the policy of the American general
to avoid a pitched battle, and to reduce his
enemy by harassing him and cutting off his
retreat, and depriving him of supplies.
The situation of General Burgoyne was
most distressing. By extraordinary efforts he
had forced his way to within a few miles of
Albany, the point of his destination, and had
he been seconded by correspondent exertions
on the part of the British southern army, he
would have effected the object of his cam
paign, Sir Henry Clinton seems to have had
no precise or early instructions as to co-ope
rating with him. Certain it is, that it was
not till the 3d of October that he moved up
the Hudson to his assistance. Sir Henry
easily surmounted every obstacle which pre
sented itself on his route. He took Fort
Montgomery by assault, and by removing a
boom and chain which was stretched from
that fortress across the Hudson, he opened
the navigation of that river to his flotilla,
160 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
which, with a fair wind, might have speedily
made its passage to Half Moon, within six
teen miles of Gates's encampment.
But instead of hastening to the relief of
their countrymen, the several divisions of
Clinton's army employed themselves in plun
dering and burning the towns and villages
situated on the banks of the river, and in the
adjacent country. Among those who dis
tinguished themselves in this predatory war
fare, General Vaughan rendered himself pre
eminently conspicuous. Having been ordered
to advance up the river, by Sir Henry Clin
ton, he landed at the town of j;Esopus, or
Kingston, a fine and flourishing village on the
western bank of the Hudson, and finding it
evacuated by the American forces, to whom its
defence had been intrusted, though he did not
encounter the slightest opposition on the part
of the inhabitants, he permitted his troops to
plunder it, and afterwards so completely re
duced it to ashes, that he did not leave a
single house standing.
This outrage excited a cry of indignation
throughout the United States, and drew from
General Gates a letter of severe remonstrance.
But the British had much more reason to in
culpate Vaughan than the Americans. His
delay at ^Esopus sealed the ruin of the royal
cause. Vaughan was at ^Esopus on the 13th
of October. The tide of flood would have
borne him, in four hours, to Albany, where he
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 161
might have destroyed Gates's stores, and thus
have reduced the American general to the
necessity of liberating General Burgoyne,
who did not surrender till the 16th, and of
retreating into New England. Upon such
narrow turns of contingencies does the issue
of the combinations of warfare frequently
depend.
SECTION XXIV.
CONVENTION OF SARATOGA, 13TH OF OCTOBER,
1777.
In the mean time, the difficulties in which
Burgoyne was involved were hourly accumu
lating. With a view of cutting off his re
treat, Gates posted 1,400 men opposite the
fords of Saratoga, and 2,000 more on the
road from that place to Fort Edward. On
receiving intelligence of this, Burgoyne re
treated to Saratoga, leaving his sick and
wounded to the humanity of the enemy.
Finding it impossible to force his way over
the fords of Saratoga, he attempted to open
to his army a passage to Lake George ; but
the artificers, whom he sent under a strong
escort to repair the bridges on the road thither,
were driven away by the American forces.
The road to Fort Edward, also, was found by
14*
162 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
the scouts who had been sent to reconnoitre
in that direction, to be strongly guarded.
When the 13th of October arrived, Burgoyne
had received no satisfactory tidings from
Clinton's army. He saw himself in a man
ner surrounded by the enemy, whose cannon-
shot flew in every direction through his camp.
Though he had for some time past put his
troops on short allowance, he found on in
spection that he had only three days' rations
left in his stores. In these trying circum
stances, with a heavy heart he summoned a
council of war, which came to a unanimous
resolution, that in their present position they
would be justified in accepting a capitulation
on honorable terms.
A negotiation was accordingly opened.
After discussion, a convention was at length
agreed upon, the principal conditions of which
were, " that the British troops were to march
out of their camp with the honors of war
and the artillery of the intrenchments to the
verge of the river, where the arms and the
artillery were to be left ; the arms to be piled
by word of command from their own officers ;
and that a free passage was to be granted to
the army to Great Britain, upon condition of
not serving again in North America during
the present contest."
These terms were honorable to the mod
eration and magnanimity of the American
general, especially as at the time he was in
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 163
possession of tidings of the atrocious conduct
of the British on the Hudson.
Though the first proposals of General Gates
were harsh, his subsequent conduct was
marked with the characteristics of concilia
tion and delicacy. When the convention was
signed, he withdrew his troops into their lines,
to spare the British the pain of piling their
arms in the presence of a triumphant enemy.
He received the vanquished general with the
respect due to his valor and to his military
skill ; and in an entertainment which he gave
at his quarters to the principal British officers,
his urbanity and kindness soothed the morti
fication which could not but embitter their
spirits.
By the convention of Saratoga, 5,790 men
surrendered as prisoners ; and besides the
muskets piled by these captives, thirty-five
brass field-pieces, and a variety of stores were
given up to the victors. The American army,
at this time, to which Burgoyne surrendered,
amounted to about fifteen thousand men, of
whom ten thousand were regulars.
The tidings of the capture of Burgoyne's
army circulated rapidly, and was received
with unbounded exultation. As a presage of
future victories, it was invaluable to the mili
tary spirit of the people, and was hailed with
transports of joy as a certain pledge of the
speedy establishment of independence. It
was also justly esteemed as giving such an
164 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
assurance of success, as would not fail to se
cure foreign alliances and European acknow
ledgments of the United States as an inde
pendent power.
SECTION XXV.
TREATY WITH FRANCE, 6TH OF FEBRUARY, 1778.
Immediately after the surrender of Bur-
goyne, Gates moved down the Hudson to put
a stop to the devastation of the country by
Clinton's army, which, on his approach, re
tired to New York. He then sent forward a
considerable reinforcement to General Wash
ington, who soon after its arrival advanced
to White Marsh, within fourteen miles of
Philadelphia, where he encamped in a strong
position. When General Howe received in
telligence of this movement, he marched out
of his quarters on the night of the 4th of De
cember ; but after various manoeuvres, find
ing that he could gain no advantage over his
vigilant adversary, he returned to Philadel
phia.
Washington then took up his winter-quar
ters about sixteen miles from the city, at a
place called Valley Forge, where his men,
ill-supplied as they were with clothing, blank
ets, and other comforts, cheerfully constructed
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 165
huts to shelter themselves from the inclemen
cy of the season. By taking up this position
he protected the province of Pennsylvania
from the incursions of the enemy, and reduced
the fruits of Howe's various successes to the
occupation of a single additional city — an
advantage by no means calculated to console
the British for the loss of an able general
and a gallant army.
General Burgoyne had drunk deep of the
bitter cup of affliction at Saratoga ; but he
was doomed to suffer still further mortifica
tion. As the British regarded the Americans
as rebels, they did not always in the course
of hostilities observe towards them those rules
which guide the conduct of nations engaged
in war against a foreign enemy. The truth
of history, indeed, cannot suppress the melan
choly fact, that at the beginning of the con
test, and, occasionally, during its progress,
the treatment of the American prisoners, on
the part of the British authorities, was ex
tremely harsh and severe ; and that capitula
tions made with such portions of the patriotic
army as had by the fortune of war been re
duced to a surrender, had not always been
observed with courtesy, or even with a due
and strict regard to their essential provi
sions.
The Congress, reflecting on these incidents,
felt no small apprehension that if the army
which had surrendered at Saratoga should be
166 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
allowed to embark, instead of sailing for Eng
land, according to the terms of the capitula
tion, it would join the forces of General Howe.
They therefore studied to find a pretext for
breaking the convention. For this purpose
they addressed a number of queries to Gene
ral Gates, as to the manner in which the
British had fulfilled the conditions of their
surrender, but he assured them that on the
part of the British the convention had been
exactly observed.
The pretext, however, which they could not
obtain from their gallant countryman, was
supplied by the imprudence of Burgoyne.
Among other articles of the convention, it
had been stipulated that the captive British
officers should, during their stay in America,
be accommodated with quarters correspond
ent to their rank. This stipulation having
been but ill observed in the crowded bar
racks at Cambridge, near Boston, where the
surrendered army was quartered, Burgoyne
addressed to Gates a letter of remonstrance
on this subject, in which he declared that by
the treatment which his officers had experi
enced, " the public faith, plighted at Saratoga,
had been broken on the part of the United
States."
Gates, in the discharge of his duty, trans
mitted this letter to Congress, who read it
with joy ; and affecting to find in the phrase
above quoted, a pretext set up by the British
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 167
general to vindicate a meditated violation of/
the convention, they resolved that " the em
barkation of General Burgoyne and the troops
under his command should be suspended till
a distinct and explicit ratification of the con
vention of Saratoga should be properly noti
fied by the court of Great Britain."
In vain did Burgoyne remonstrate against
this resolution — in vain did he explain his
phraseology, and offer to give any conceiva
ble pledge of the sincerity of his intentions to
fulfil his engagements. The Congress was
inexorable — his troops remained as prisoners ;
and after wasting some time in vain endeav
ors to procure them redress, he sailed on his
parole for England, where he was refused
admittance into the presence of his sovereign,
denied the justice of a court-martial on his
conduct, and subjected to a series of ministe
rial persecutions — grievous, indeed, to a sen
sitive mind, but, in effect, more disgraceful to
their inflictors than to their victim.
At the time when the American leaders
contemplated the declaration of independ
ence, they entertained sanguine hopes that
the rivalry which had so long subsisted be
tween France and England would induce the
former power to assist them in throwing off
the yoke of the mother country ; and early in
the year 1776, the congress sent Silas Deane
as their accredited agent to Paris, where he
was afterwards joined by Dr. Franklin and
168 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
Arthur Lee, and instructed to solicit the
French court to enter into a treaty of alliance
and commerce with the United States. The
celebrity of Franklin gained him the respect,
and his personal qualities obtained him the
esteem of individuals of the highest rank in*
the French capital.
But the Comte de Vergennes, then prime
minister, acted with caution. He gave the
Americans secret aid, and connived at various
measures which their agents took to further
their cause, by the procuring of arms and
military stores, and by annoying the British
commerce. The encouragement which Frank
lin and his associates received, varied accord
ing to the success or disasters of the American
forces. But the capture of Burgoyne's army
decided the hesitating counsels of France ;
and on the 6th of February, 1778, His Most
Christian Majesty acknowledged and guar
antied the independence of the United States,
and entered into a treaty of alliance and com
merce with the infant republic of North
America.
Of this circumstance the French ambassa
dor, on the 13th of March, gave official notice
to his majesty's ministers in a rescript couched
in respectful terms, but concluding with an in
timation, " that the French king, being deter
mined efFectudlly to protect the lawful com
merce of his subjects, and to maintain the
dignity of his flag, had, in consequence, taken
AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
effectual measures for these purposes, in con
cert with the United States of America."
With whatever urbanity this communica
tion mi^ht be made by the ambassador, the
British ministers regarded it, as it was in
tended to be, as a declaration of war ; and
on the 17th of March they notified its recep
tion to the House of Commons. Their notifi
cation was accompanied by a message from
the king, expressing the necessity he was
under to resent this unprovoked aggression,
and his firm reliance on the zealous and affec
tionate support of his faithful people. To
this message the Commons returned a dutiful
answer, assuring his majesty that they would
stand by him in asserting the dignity of the
crown, and the honor of the nation.
SECTION XXVI.
REJECTION OF LORD NORTH*S OVERTURES, JUNE,
1778.
The intelligence of the surrender of Gene
ral Burgoyne and his army overwhelmed Lord
North with dismay ; and the annunciation of
the treaty between the United States and
France at once dissipated the feeble hope
which he might yet have entertained of sub
duing the revolted colonies by force of arms,
15
170 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
His only remaining resource, then, to prevent
that jewel from being forever torn from the
British crown, was to form, by an act of par
liament, a kind of federal union with the
North American provinces, which, while it
reserved their allegiance to the British sove
reign, should virtually concede to them the
entire management of their internal concerns.
With this view, on the 17th of February,
1778, he introduced into the House of Com
mons two conciliatory bills, by which he pro
posed to concede to the colonies every thing
which they had demanded before their decla
ration of independence, viz., exemption from
internal parliamentary taxation, the appoint
ment of their own governors and superior
magistrates ; and, moreover, an exemption
from the keeping up of any military force in
any of the colonies without the consent of
their respective assemblies. It was provided,
that commissioners should be appointed by
the crown, to negotiate with Congress on the
basis of these propositions.
The speech in which his lordship introduced
these bills into the House of Commons was
marked by a curious mixture of humiliation
of tone, and affected confidence and courage.
The coercive acts, which under his influence
had been passed into laws, were, said he, such
as appeared to be necessary at the time, though
in the event they had produced effects which
he had never intended.
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 171
As soon as he found that they had failed
in their object, before a sword was drawn
he brought forward a conciliatory propo
sition, (meaning the act for admitting to
the king's peace any individual colonies
which might make the requisite concessions ;)
but that, in consequence of the proposition
having been made the subject of debate in
parliament, it went damned to America, so
that the Congress conceived, or took occasion to
represent it, as a scheme for sowing divisions,
and introducing taxation among them in a
worse mode than the former. Then, making
a fatal admission of the trifling nature of the
object which had produced so much ill blood
between the colonies and the mother country,
he confessed that his idea never had been to
draw any considerable revenue from Ameri
ca ; that his wish was, that the colonists
should contribute in a very low proportion to
the expenses of Great Britain.
He was very well aware that American
taxation could never produce a beneficial
revenue, and that many taxes could not be
laid or collected in the colonies. The stamp-
act, however, seemed to be judiciously chosen
as a fiscal experiment, as it interested every
man who had any dealing or property to de
fend or recover, in the collection of the tax
and the execution of the statute ; but this ex
periment had failed, in consequence of the
obstinacy of the Americans in transacting all
172 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
business without using the stamps prescribed
by law.
The act enabling the East India Company
to send tea to America on their own account,
and with the drawback of the whole duty
in England, was a relief instead of an oppres
sion ; but this measure had been defeated by
contraband traders, who had too successfully
misrepresented it as an invasion of colonial
rights. Having thus detailed the difficulties
with which ministers had been called to
struggle in legislating for so perverse a gen
eration as the Americans had proved them
selves to be, his lordship then proceeded to
open his plan, the outline of which has been
given above. And, in descanting on the
ample powers with which he proposed to in
vest the commissioners, and foreseeing that
the Americans might refuse to treat with
these agents of the sovereign without a pre
vious acknowledgment of their independence,
he humbled himself so far as to say, that he
\vould not insist on their renouncing their in
dependence till the treaty should receive its
final ratification from the king and parlia
ment of Great Britain. And then, in a man
ner confessing that, instead of a sovereign as
sembly, the parliament was reduced to the
condition of a supplicant to the mutinous col
onies, he proposed that the commissioners
should be instructed to negotiate with them
for some reasonable and moderate contribu-
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 173
tion towards the common defence of the em
pire when reunited ; but, to take away all
pretence for not terminating this unhappy
difference, the contribution was not to be in
sisted on as a sine qua non of the treaty ; but
that if the Americans should refuse so rea
sonable and equitable a proposition, they
were not to look for support from that part
of the empire to whose expense they had re
fused to contribute.
Weakly attempting to obviate the imputa
tion that these pacific measures were the
fruit of fear, occasioned by the recent suc
cesses of the insurgents, he called the House
to witness that he had declared for concilia
tion at the beginning of the session, when he
thought that the victories of General Howe
had been more decisive, and when he knew
nothing of the misfortunes of Burgoyne. He
acknowledged that the events of the war had
turned out very differently from his expecta
tion, but maintained that for the disappoint
ment of the hopes of the public no blame was
imputable to himself ; that he had promised
that a great army should be sent out, and a
great army, an army of upwards of 60,000
men, had been sent out ; that he had prom
ised that a great fleet should be employed,
and a great fleet had been employed ; that
he had engaged that this army and this fleet
should be provided with every kind of supply,
and that they had been supplied most amply
15*
174 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
and liberally, and might be so for years to
come ; and that if the House was deceived,
they had deceived themselves.
The prime minister, having thus by impli
cation attributed the failure of his plans to
the commanders of the British forces em
ployed to conduct the war, concluded his
speech by a boastful assertion, that the
strength of the nation was still entire ; that
its resources were ample, and that it was able,
if it were necessary, to carry on the war
much longer.
The disavowal on the part of the prime
minister of any intention to raise a reve
nue in America, seems to have given no little
umbrage to the country gentlemen, whose
organ, Mr. Baldwin, exclaimed, that he had
been deceived by the minister ; that three
years ago he had asked him whether a reve
nue was meant by the measures he then pro
posed to enforce ; that he was answered it
was, and that upon that ground alone he had
hitherto voted with the ministry.
The regular opposition were, upon the
whole, more moderate than the landed aris
tocracy. Mr. Fox approved of Lord North's
propositions, which, he reminded him, were
in substance the same as those which were
in vain brought forward by Mr. Burke about
three years before. He did not, however, re
strain himself from making some severe an
imadversions on the policy of the premier, all
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 175
whose arguments, he asserted, might be col
lected into one point, his excuses all reduced
to one apology — his total ignorance.
" He hoped," exclaimed the indignant ora
tor, " he hoped, and was disappointed ; he ex
pected a great deal, and found little to answer
his expectations. He thought the Americans
would have submitted to his laws, and they
resisted them. He thought they would have
submitted to his armies, and they were beaten
by inferior numbers. He made conciliatory
propositions, and he thought they would suc
ceed, but they were rejected. He appointed
commissioners to make peace, and he thought
they had powers ; but he found they could
not make peace, and nobody believed they
had any powers. He had said many such
things as he had thought fit in his conciliatory
propositions ; he thought it a proper method
of quieting the Americans upon the affair of
taxation.
" If any person should give himself the
trouble of reading that proposition, he would
find not one word of it cDrrespondent to the
representation made of it by its framer. The
short account of it was, that the noble lord in
the proposition assured the colonies, that
when Parliament had taxed them as much
as they thought proper, they would tax them
no more/' In conclusion, however, Mr. Fox
said " that he would vote for the present pro
position, because it was much more clear and
176 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
satisfactory, for necessity had caused him to
speak plain."
The conciliatory bills, in their passage
through the two Houses, excited many ani
mated debates, in the course of which Lord
North was exposed to much animadversion,
which he seems to have borne with great
equanimity. At length, all points relative to
them being settled by Parliament, they were
sanctioned by the royal assent. But the ur
gency of danger would not allow ministers to
wait till they were passed into a law ; and
the same statesmen who had a little time
before treated the petitions of the colonies
with scorn and contempt, hastened to com
municate their propositions, while yet in the
shape of bills, to the Congress, in hopes that
the adoption on their part of a milder policy
might be met with a similar spirit of concilia
tion on the other side of the Atlantic. These
documents were despatched in such haste,
that they arrived at New York in time to be
presented by Sir William Howe to the Con
gress, before that assembly had received in
telligence of the signature of their treaty, of
alliance with France.
The American legislators did not, however,
hesitate as to the line of conduct which in
these circumstances it became them to pur
sue. They peremptorily rejected the propo
sals of Lord North as insidious and unsatis
factory. During the progress of the concilia-
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 177
tory bills, and after their passing, frequent
and animated debates took place in both
Houses of Parliament, relative to the foreign
and domestic policy of the country.
In the House of Lords, the Duke of Rich
mond took the lead in discussing these subjects,
and on the 7th of April, he made an impres
sive speech on the state of the nation, in
which he maintained, that the salvation of
the country required the withdrawing of the
British troops from North America, and even
not obscurely hinted that for the acquisition
of peace, it would be politic to agree to the
independence of the colonies. As his grace's
sentiments on the latter point were no secret,
and as it was to be expected that he would
propound them on this occasion, Lord Chat
ham, now laboring under the weight of seventy
years, rendered more heavy by acute bodily
suffering, regardless of his infirmities, attend
ed in his place for the purpose of raising his
voice against the duke's proposition.
'* My lords," exclaimed the venerable ora
tor, " I rejoice that the grave has not closed
upon me, and that I am still alive to lift up
my voice against the dismemberment of this
ancient and most noble monarchy." He then
proceeded, in the most energetic terms, to
urge his auditors to the most vigorous efforts
against their new enemy, the House of Bour
bon ; and concluded by calling upon them, if
they must fall, to fall like men.
178 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
The Duke of Richmond having replied to
this speech, Lord Chatham attempted to rise
for the purpose of rebutting his grace's argu
ments, and of proposing his own plan for put
ting an end to the contest with America,
which is understood to have been the estab
lishment with the colonies, upon the most
liberal terms, of a kind of federal union under
one common monarch. But the powers of
nature within him were exhausted ; he fainted
under the effort which he made to give utter
ance to his sentiments, and being conveyed
to his favorite seat of Haynes, in Kent, he
expired on the 1 1th of May.
This firmness on the part of Congress au
gured ill for the success of the British com
missioners, Lord Carlisle, Mr. Eden, and
Governor Johnstone, who arrived at New
York on the 9th of June, and without loss of
time attempted to open a negotiation with
the Congress. Their overtures were officially
answered by President Laurens in a letter, by
which he apprized them that the American go
vernment were determined to maintain their
independence ; but were willing to treat for
peace with his Britannic Majesty on condi
tion of his withdrawing his fleets and armies
from their country.
Thus foiled in their attempt at public ne
gotiation, the commissioners had recourse to
private intrigue. Governor Johnstone, from
his long residence in America, was personally
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 179
acquainted with many of the leading mem
bers of Congress, to some of whom he ad
dressed letters ; vaguely intimating the great
rewards and honors which awaited those
who would lend their aid in putting an end
to the present troubles ; and in one instance,
he privately offered to an individual, for his
services on this behalf, the sum of 10,OOOZ.
sterling, and any place in the colonies in his
majesty's gift.
These clandestine overtures of the governor
•were uniformly rejected with contempt, and
the Congress having been apprized of them,
declared them direct attempts at corruption ;
and resolved that it was incompatible with
their honor to hold any correspondence or in
tercourse with him. This resolution, which
was adhered to, notwithstanding the explana
tions and denials of Johnstone, and the dis
avowal of his proceedings by his brother com
missioners, drew forth from these pacificators
an angry manifesto, in which they virtually
threatened the Union with a war of devasta
tion, declaring that "if the British colonies
were to become an accession to France, the
laws of self-pre0^ ration would direct Great
Britain to *"~- ^r the accession of as little
avail as possible to the enemy."
While Congress gave notice that the bear
ers of the copies of this manifesto were not
entitled to the protection of a flag, they
showed how little they dreaded the impres-
180 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
sion which it might make, by giving it an ex-
tensive circulation in their newspapers.
SECTION XXVII.
ARRIVAL OF THE FRENCH FLEET.
General Howe spent the spring of the year
1778 nearly in a state of inaction, confining
his operaticms to the sending out of foraging
and predatory parties, which did some mis
chief to the country, but little service to the
royal cause. From this lethargy he was
roused by the receipt of orders from the Brit
ish ministry, to evacuate Philadelphia with
out delay. . These orders were sent under the
apprehension, that if a French fleet should
block up his squadron in the Delaware, while
Washington enclosed him on the land side,
he would share the fate of Burgoyne. On
the 18th of June, therefore, he quitted the
Pennsylvanian capital, and crossed into New
Jersey, whither he was speedily followed by
Washington, who, keeping a strict watch on
his movements, had taken measures to harass
him on his march, which was encumbered
with baggage.
The American commander, on his arrival
at Princeton, hearing that General Clinton,
with a large division of the British forces^
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 181
had quitted the direct road to Staten Island,
the place of rendezvous appointed for Gene
ral Howe's army, and was marching for
Sandy Hook, sent a detachment in pursuit of
him, and followed with his whole army to
support it ; and as Clinton made preparations
to meet the meditated attack, he sent forward
reinforcements to keep the British in check.
These reinforcements were commanded by
General Lee, whom Washington, on his ad
vancing in person, met in full retreat. After
a short and angry parley, Lee again advan
ced, and was driven back ; but Clinton's forces
next encountering the main body of the
American army, were repulsed in their turn,
and taking advantage of the night, the ap
proach of which, in all probability, saved
them from utter discomfiture, they withdrew
to Sandy Hook, leaving behind them such of
their wounded as could not with safety be re
moved.
For his conduct on this occasion, Lee was
brought to a court-martial, and sentenced to
be suspended from any command in the ar
mies of the United States for the term of one
year. After this engagement Washington
marched to White Plains, which are situated
a few miles to the northeastward of New
York Island. Here he continued unmolested
by the neighboring enemy, from the begin
ning of July till the latter end of autumn,
when he retired to take up his winter-quar-
16
182 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
ters in huts which he had caused to be con
structed at Middlebrook, hi Jersey.
According to the prognostic of the British
ministry, the Count d'Estaing, with a fleet of
twelve ships of the line and three frigates,
arrived off the mouth of the Delaware in the
month of July ; but found, to his mortifica
tion, that eleven days before that period Lord
Howe had withdrawn from that river to the
harbor of New York. D'Estaing immediately
sailed for Sandy Hook ; but after continuing
at anchor there eleven days, during which
time he captured about twenty English mer
chantmen, finding that he could not work his
line-of-battle ships over the bar, by the advice
of General Washington he sailed for New
port, with a view of co-operating with the
Americans in driving the British from Rhode
Island, of which province they had been in
possession for upwards of a year and a half.
This project, however, completely failed.
Lord Howe appearing with his fleet off New
port, the French admiral came out of the
harbor to give him battle ; but, before the
hostile armaments could encounter, a violent
storm arose, which damaged both fleets so
much, that the British were compelled to re
turn to New York, while D'Estaing withdrew
to refit in Boston harbor. His retirement
subjected the American army, which had en
tered Rhode Island, under General Sullivan,
to great peril ; but by the skill of its com-*
AMERICAN REVOLUTION". 183
mander, it was withdrawn from the province
with little loss. Towards the latter end of
this year the British arms were signally suc
cessful in Georgia, the capital of which province
was taken by Lieutenant-colonel Campbell,
who conducted himself with such prudence,
and manifested so conciliatory a spirit, that
he made no small advances in reconciling the
people of Georgia to their ancient govern
ment.
The arrival of the French fleet had filled
the Americans with sanguine expectations
that they should now be able to put an end
to the war by some decisive stroke ; and in
proportion to the elevation of their hopes
was the bitterness of their mortification, that
the only result of the co-operation of their
ally was the recovery of Philadelphia. On the
other hand, the British ministry were grievous
ly disappointed on learning that the issue of this
campaign, as far as regarded their main army,
was the exchange by General Howe of his
narrow quarters in the Pennsylvahian capital
for the not much more extended ones of New
York Island. Hitherto they seem to have
carried on the war under the idea that the
majority of the inhabitants of the colonies
were favorably disposed towards the royal
government, and were only restrained from
manifesting their loyalty by a faction whom
it would be easy with their assistance to sub
due, but from this period they appear to have
184 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
conducted their hostilities in a spirit of des
peration and revenge.
Thus terminated the second campaign of
Great Britain against her revolted colonies.
Two powerful armies, commanded by expe
rienced generals, and abundantly provided
with every thing, had succeeded in nothing
but capturing the cities of Philadelphia and
New York, and ravaging the property of pri
vate individuals throughout the country. One
army had been lost totally, and the other,
though master of the capital of the country,
was in effect straitened within very nar
row limits, and exercised no power over the
people. The country was not only not sub
dued, but unterrified, and more sanguine of
their ability to maintain their independence,
and warmed with sterner and more unani
mous determinations to yield nothing to the
invader. Besides their own higher hopes and
confidence in themselves, supported by the
issue of two years' battles, they were now
strengthened with foreign aid.
SECTION XXVIII.
CAMPAIGN OF 1779.
With a view of alarming the insurgent
colonies by subjecting them to the unmitiga
ted horrors of war, Sir Henry Clinton, on the
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 185
JOth of May, 1779, sent an expedition into
Virginia, under the command of Sir George
Collier arid General Matthews, who, landing
at Portsmouth, proceeded to Suffolk, which
town they reduced to ashes, and after burning
and capturing upwards of 130 vessels of dif
ferent sizes, and devastating the country in
their line of march, sailed back loaded with
booty to New York.
About five weeks after their return, Gover
nor Tryon, having received orders to attack
the coast of Connecticut, landed at East
Haven, which he devoted to the flames, in
violation of his promise of protection to all
the inhabitants who should remain in their
homes. Thence he proceeded to Fairfield
and Norwalk, which were given up to plun
der, and then destroyed. He effected this
mischief with little loss in the space of ten
days, at the end of which time he returned to
the British head-quarters to make a report of
his proceedings to the commander-in-chief.
Besides the vessels destroyed, there were
burned at Norwalk two places of public
worship, eighty dwelling-houses, sixty-seven
barns, twenty-two stores, seventeen shops,
and four mills ; and at Fairfield, two houses
of public worship, eighty-two dwelling-houses,
fifty-five barns, and thirty stores. So far was
Governor Tryon from feeling compunction at
these barbarities, that he boasted of his clem
ency, and maintained that the existence of a
16*
186 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
single house on the coast was a monument
of the king's mercy.
While this mode of warfare was carrying
on, Washington could spare very few men for
the defence of the invaded districts. His at
tention was engrossed by the main army of
the British, to keep which in check he posted
his forces at West Point, and on the opposite
bank of the Hudson, pushing his patrols to
the vicinity of his adversary's lines. As the
British occupied with a strong garrison Stony
Point, some miles to the south of his position,
he, on the 15th of July, despatched General
Wayne with a competent force to dislodge
them from that important post.
This attempt was crowned with success.
Wayne took the British works by storm, and
brought off 543 prisoners, fifteen pieces of
cannon, and a considerable quantity of mili
tary stores. Washington did not, however,
think it prudent for the present to attempt to
establish himself at Stony Point, and it was
speedily re-occupied by the British.
Another instance of the enterprising bold
ness of the Americans, soon after occurred in.
the surprise of the British garrison at Powles-
Hook, opposite to New York, which was at
tacked on the 19th of July, by Major Lee-
who stormed the works and took 160 prison
ers, whom he brought safely to the American
lines. The joy which the Americans felt at
the success of these daring enterprises was,
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 187
however, damped by the failure of an expe
dition undertaken by the state of Massachu
setts to dispossess the British of a fort which
they had erected at Penobscot in the district
of Maine. They here lost the whole of their
flotilla, which was destroyed or captured by
Sir George Collier, while their land forces
were compelled to seek for safety by retreat
ing through the woods.
Spain having now declared war against
Great Britain, it was hoped by sanguine poli
ticians, favorable to the cause of the new
republic, that this additional pressure of for
eign foes wrould compel the British ministry
to withdraw their forces from North America.
But the energies of the mother country were
roused in proportion to the increase of her
peril. Her fleets maintained their wonted
sovereignty over the ocean, and her monarch
was determined to strain every nerve to re
duce his revolted colonies to obedience ; and
at this period the ease with which the reduc
tion of Georgia had been effected, and the
advantages which it might afford in making
an attack upon the rest of the southern states,
induced his ministers to renew their efforts in
that quarter.
The back settlements, as well as those of
the Carolinas, abounded with enterprising
men of desperate fortunes, as also with tories,
who had been compelled, by the persecution
which they sustained from the more ardent
188 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
republicans, to withdraw into these wilds
from the more settled part of the country.
These adventurers and loyalists having joined
the royal forces under the command of Major-
general Preseot, which had also received re
inforcements from Florida, that officer found
himself in a condition to commence active
operations. His preparations filled the neigh
boring states with alarm.
The American regular troops had, with few
exceptions, been sent from the Carolinas to
reinforce the army of General Washington ;
and the only reliance of the republicans in
this portion of the Union rested on the militia,
the command of which was delegated by
Congress to General Lincoln. On inspecting
his forces, Lincoln found them ill equipped
-and very deficient in discipline. In these
circumstances, the activity of the enemy did
not allow him any time to improve their dis
cipline.
Soon after his arrival at head-quarters, a
division of the royal army advanced, under
the command of Major Gardiner, to take pos
session of Port Royal, in South Carolina, but
was driven back with loss by General Moul-
trie. This repulse for a while suspended the
enterprise of the British, who took post at
Augusta and Ebenezer, situated on the Sa
vannah river, which forms the boundary be
tween Georgia and South Carolina. Here
they waited in expectation of being joined
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 189
by a body of tories, who had been collected
in the upper parts of the latter province.
But these obnoxious allies, giving way to
long- smothered resentment, were guilty of
such atrocities on their inarch, that the coun
try rose upon them, and they fell an easy
prey to a detachment commanded by Colonel
Pickens, sent to intercept them at Kettle
Creek. Five of the prisoners taken on this
occasion, were tried and executed for bearing
arms against the government of the United
States. This proceeding led to acts of retali
ation on the part of the tories and the king's
troops, which for a long time gave in the
southern states additional horror to the mise
ries of war.
Imboldened by his success, Lincoln sent an
expedition into Georgia, with a view of re
pressing the incursions of the enemy, but his
forces were surprised by General Prevost,
from whom they sustained so signal a defeat,
that, of 1,500 men, of which the expedition
consisted, only 450 returned to his camp. In
this emergency, the legislative body of South
Carolina invested their governor, John Rut-
ledge, and his council, with an almost abso
lute authority, by virtue of which, a consider
able force of militia was embodied and sta
tioned in the centre of the state, to act as
necessity might require.
Putting himself at the head of these new
levies, Lincoln again determined to carry the
190 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
war into the enemy's quarters ; and, crossing
the Savannah, near Augusta, marched into
Georgia, and proceeded towards the capital
of that province. Prevost instantly took ad
vantage of this movement to invade South
Carolina, at the head of 2,400 men ; and,
driving Moultrie before him, pushed forward
towards Charleston. At this time, his supe
riority appeared to be so decisive, that
Moultrie's troops began to desert in great
numbers, and many of the inhabitants, with
real or affected zeal, embraced the royal
cause.
On his appearance before Charleston, the
garrison of that place, which consisted of
3,300 men, sent commissioners to propose a
neutrality on their part during the remainder
of the war. This proposal he rejected, and
made preparations to attack the town, which
was respectably fortified. But, while he was
wasting time in negotiations, Lincoln was
hastening from Georgia to the relief of the
place ; and on the near approach of the
American army, fearing to be exposed to two
fires, he withdrew his forces across Ashley
river, and encamped on some small islands
bordering on the sea-coast.
Here he was attacked by Lincoln, who
was, however, repulsed with loss, in conse
quence of the failure of a part of his combi
nations. Notwithstanding this success, the
British general did not think it advisable to
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 191
maintain his present position, but retreated
to Port Royal, and thence to Savannah.
The Americans retired to Sheldon, in the
vicinity of Beaufort, which is situated at
about an equal distance from Charleston and
Savannah. Here they remained in a state
of tranquillity till the beginning of September,
when they were roused from their inaction
by the appearance off the coast of the fleet
of D'Estaing, who had proceeded towards
the close of the preceding year from Boston
to the West Indies, whence, after capturing
St. Vincent's and Granada, he had returned
to the assistance of the allies of his sovereign.
At the sight of this armament, which con
sisted of 20 sail of the line, and 13 frigates,
the republicans exulted in the sanguine hope
of capturing their enemies, or of expelling
them from their country. The militia mus
tered with alacrity in considerable force, and
marched under the command of General Lin
coln to the vicinity of Savannah. Before
their arrival, D'Estaing had summoned the
town, and had granted to General Prevost a
suspension of hostilities for 24 hours, for the
purpose of settling the terms of a capitula
tion. But during that interval, the British
commander received a reinforcement of sev
eral hundred men, who had forced their way
from Beaufort ; encouraged by which seasona
ble aid, he determined to hold out to the last
extremity.
192 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
The allied forces, therefore, commenced the
siege of the place in form ; but D'Estaing,
finding that much time would be consumed
in regular approaches, and dreading the hur
ricanes which prevail on the southern coast
of America at that season, resolved on an as
sault. In conjunction with Lincoln, he led
his troops to the attack with great gallantry ;
but, after having received two slight wounds,
he was driven back with the loss of 637 of
his countrymen, and 200 of the Americans,
killed and wounded.
At the close of the engagement, D'Estaing
retired to his ships, and departed from the
coast, while Lincoln crossed the Savannah
river, and returned with his forces, daily di
minishing by desertion, to South Carolina.
In proportion to the joy of the inhabitants of
the southern states at the arrival of the
French fleet, was their mortification at the
failure of their joint endeavors to rid their
provinces of an active enemy. The brave
were dispirited by defeat, and the sanguine
began to despair of the fortunes of their
country. Those, however, who thought more
deeply, took comfort from the consideration
that the enemy had effected little in the
course of the campaign, except the overrun
ning and plundering of an extensive tract of
territory, and that they had been compelled
to terminate their excursions by again con
centrating themselves in Savannah.
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 193
SECTION XXIX.
SIEGE AND CAPITULATION OP CHARLESTON, 12TH OP
MAY, 1780.
The events which had occurred in South
Carolina, having persuaded Sir Henry Clin
ton that the cause of independence was less
firmly supported there than in the northern
states, he determined to make that province
the principal theatre of the war during the
ensuing campaign. Leaving, therefore, the
command of the royal army in New York to
General Knyphausen, on the 26th of Decem
ber, 1779, he sailed from that city with a con
siderable force, and, after a stormy passage,
on the llth of the ensuing month, he arrived
at Tybee, in Georgia, at the mouth of Savan
nah river. Hence he proceeded to Ashley riv
er, and encamped opposite to Charleston.
On his arrival, the assembly of the state of
South Carolina broke up its sitting, after hav
ing once more delegated a dictatorial author
ity to Governor Rutledge, who immediately
issued orders for the assembling of the mili
tia. These commands were ill obeyed. The
disasters of the last campaign had almost ex
tinguished the flame of patriotism ; and each
man seemed to look to his neighbors for those
exertions which might have justly been ex
pected from himself.
17
194 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
He next issued his proclamation, requiring
every enrolled inhabitant of the town to re
pair to the garrison to do military duty, un
der a penalty of having his property confis
cated. This had no better effect than solici
tation. With all the exertions of Lincoln and
Rutledge, the whole strength of the town,
when Clinton crossed the Ashley, was less
than three thousand, of whom, a thousand
were North Carolina militia, and the rest con
tinental regulars. Lincoln was indefatigable
in fortifying the works. The lines were ex
tended, and every possible preparation was
made for a vigorous and determined, though
a hopeless, resistance.
On reconnoitring the works of' Charleston,
Sir Henry Clinton did not think it expedient
to attack them till he had received reinforce
ments from New York and Savannah, on the
arrival of which he opened the siege in form.
Charleston is situated on a tongue of land,
bounded on the west by Ashley, and on the
east by Cooper's rivers. The approach to
Ashley river was defended by Fort Moultrie,
erected on Sullivan's island ; and the passage
up Cooper's river was impeded by a number
of vessels, connected by cables and chains,
and sunk in the channel opposite the town.
On the land side, the place was defended by
a citadel and strong lines, extending from one
of the above-mentioned rivers to the other.
Before these lines, Clinton broke ground on
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 195
the 29th of March, and on the 10th of April,
he had completed his first parallel. On the
preceding day, Admiral Arbuthnot, who com
manded the British fleet, had passed Fort
Moultrie with little loss, and had anchored
near the town. About the 20th of April, the
British commander received a second rein
forcement of 3,000 men ; and the place was
soon completely invested by land and sea —
his third parallel being advanced to the very
edge of the American works.
Gen. Lincoln, who commanded in Charles
ton, would not have shut himself up in the
town, had he not confidently expected relief
from the militia, who had been called out by
Governor Rutledge, and by whose assistance
he imagined that he could, if reduced to ex
tremity, have effected a retreat, by crossing
Cooper's river. But the few, who, in this
hour of difficulty, advanced to his aid, were
cut off or kept in check ; and the river was
possessed by the enemy.
In these distressful circumstances, after sus
taining a bombardment which set the town
on fire in different places, on the 12th of May,
he surrendered on a capitulation, the princi
pal terms of which were, that " the militia
were to be permitted to return to their re
spective homes, as prisoners on parole, and
while they adhered to their parole, were not
to be molested in person or property." The
same conditions were also imposed on all the
396 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
inhabitants of the town, civil as well as mil
itary.
The American loss during the siege was
102 killed and 157 wounded ; that of the loy
alists, 70 killed and 189 wounded. The num
ber of prisoners, including adult citizens and
militia, was about 5,000, but the regular force
did not exceed 2,500. The proportion of offi
cers was unusually large — men who came to
the defence of the city without being able to
bring the troops -with them. There were in
cluded in the capitulation, one major-general,
six brigadier-generals, twenty- three colonels
and lieutenant-colonels, and one hundred and
sixty-eight captains and lieutenants, besides
ensigns. No less than four hundred pieces
of artillery, of which three hundred and elev
en were in the city, fell into the hands of the
British.
Sir Henry Clinton now addressed himself to
the important work of re-establishing the royal
authority in the province ; as a preliminary step
to which, on the 1st of June, he issued a pro
clamation, offering to the inhabitants at large,
on condition of their submission, pardon for
their past offences, a reinstatement in their
rights, and, what was of the most weighty
importance, exemption from taxation, except
from their own legislature.
This proclamation was followed up by the
posting of garrisons in different parts of the
country, to protect the loyal and to awe the
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 197
disaffected, and by the march of 2,000 men
towards North Carolina, on whose advance
the American forces, who had tardily march
ed from that province to the relief of Charles
ton, retreated with loss.
Col. Tarlton wras detached by Cornwallis,
with a strong corps of cavalry and mounted
infantry in pursuit. By pushing on with un
exampled celerity, Tarlton overtook the Amer
icans at Waxsaw, and after a short encounter,
routed the party, and captured the artillery,
baggage, colors, indeed every thing. The
carnage was terrible. The Americans, infe
rior in number, made but feeble resistance
and cried for quarter. This was refused, and
the infuriated enemy continued to cut down
and massacre without mercy, until tired with
slaughter. One hundred and eight were kill
ed, and one hundred and fifty wounded, and
fifty-three prisoners ; the loss of the victors
was only seven killed and twelve wounded.
" Tarlton's quarter" became afterwards a by
word, to express deliberate cruelty.
Thus crowned with success, Clinton, early
in June, embarked, with the principal part of
his forces, for New York, having delegated
the completion of the subjugation of South
Carolina to Lord Cornwallis, to whom he ap
portioned, for that purpose, an army of 4,000
men.
198 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
SECTION XXX.
DEFEAT OF GATEs's ARMY, BY LORD CORNWALLIS,
15TH OF AUGUST, 1780.
When Lord Cornwallis took the command
in South Carolina, the insurgents had no ar
my in the field within 400 miles of that prov
ince, and the great body of the inhabitants
had submitted either as prisoners or as sub
jects ; and had they been suffered to remain
in this state of quiet neutrality, they would
have been happy to abide in peace the issue
of the contest in the northern states. But
his lordship's instructions did not permit him
to be contented with this passive obedience,
and he proceeded to take measures to compel
the South Carolinians to take up arms against
their countrymen.
With this view, he issued a proclamation,
absolving from their parole all the inhabit
ants who had bound themselves by that ob
ligation, and restoring them "to all the rights
and duties belonging to citizens." What was
meant by the ominous word " duties" was ex
plained by another part of the proclamation,
whereby it was declared, " that it was proper
for all persons to take an active part in set
tling and securing his majesty's government,"
and that " whoever should neglect so to do
should be treated as rebels."
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 199
The Carolinians were indignant at this vio
lation of the terms of their submission. Ma
ny of them resumed their arms ; and though
more, under the impression of fear, enrolled
themselves as subjects, they brought to the
royal cause a hollow allegiance, which could
not be trusted in the day of trial. A consid
erable number quitted the province, and has
tened to join the army which Congress was
raising for the purpose of wresting it out of
the hands of the enemy.
In organizing this force, Congress had to
struggle with the greatest difficulties. Their
treasury was exhausted, and they were at
this time occupied in making an equitable
adjustment as to their paper money, on the
strength of which they had undertaken the
war, and which was now depreciated to the
amount of forty for one — that is, one silver
dollar was worth forty American paper dol
lars. While their currency was in this state
they were perpetually embarrassed in their
purchases of arms, clothing, and stores ; and
when they had raised the men for the south
ern army, some time elapsed before they could
procure the necessary funds to put them in
motion.
These difficulties being at length overcome,
the Maryland and Delaware troops were sent
forward, and began their march in high spir
its on learning that the expedition of which
they formed a part, was to be commanded by
200 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
General Gates. The hero of Saratoga, on
joining the army in North Carolina, was ad
vised to proceed to the southward by a cir
cuitous route, where he would find plenty of
provisions ; but, conceiving it to be his duty
to hasten with all speed to the scene of ac
tion, he preferred the straightforward road to
Camden, which led through a desert pine
barren.
In traversing this dreary tract of country,
his forces were worn out with fatigue and
extenuated with hunger. The few cattle
which his commissariat had provided having
been consumed, his only resource for meat
was the lean beasts which were accidentally
picked up in the woods. Meal and grain
were also very scarce ; and as substitutes for
bread, the soldiers were obliged to have re
course to the green corn and to the fruits
which they met with on their line of march.
The consequence of this unwonted diet was,
that the army was thinned by dysentery and
other diseases usually caused by the heat of
the weather and by unwholesome food.
The soldiers at first bore these hardships
with impatience, and symptoms of dissatis
faction and even of mutiny began to appear
among them. But by the conciliatory exer
tions of the officers, who shared in all the
privations of the common men, the spirit of
murmuring was repressed, and the troops
pursued their weary way with patience and
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 201
even with cheerfulness. On their arrival at
a place called Deep creek, their distresses
were alleviated by a supply of good beef, ac
companied by the distribution of half a pound
of Indian corn meal to each man.
Invigorated by this welcome refreshment,
they proceeded to the cross-roads, where they
were joined by a respectable body of militia
under the command of General Caswell.
Though Gates was aware that another body
of militia were hastening to his assistance from
the state of Virginia, he was prevented from
waiting for their arrival by want of provi
sions, and, after staying for one day only at
the cross-roads, finding that the enemy in
tended to dispute his passage by Lynch's
creek, he marched to the right towards Cler
mont, where the British had established a de
fensible post.
On his approach to the latter place, how*
ever, Lord Rawdon, who commanded the ad
vance of the British, concentrated all his
forces at Camden, while Gates mustered the
whole of his army at Clermont, which is dis
tant from Camden about thirteen miles.
These events occurred on the 13th of August,
and on the next day the American troops
were reinforced by a body of 700 of the Vir
ginia militia. At the same time Gates re
ceived an express from Colonel Sumpter, who
reported to him that he had been joined by a
number of the South Carolina militia, at his
'202 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
encampment on the west side of the Wateree,
and that an escort of clothing, ammunition,
and other stores, was on its way from Charles
ton to Camden, and must, of necessity, on its
way to its destination, cross the Wateree at a
ferry about a mile from that place.
On receiving this intelligence, Gates sent
forward a detachment of the Maryland line,
consisting of 100 regular infantry and a com
pany of artillery, with two brass field-pieces,
and 300 North Carolina militia, all under the
command of Lieutenant-colonel Woodford,
who was instructed to join General Sumpter,
and assist him in intercepting the convoy. At
the same time General Gates made prepara
tions for advancing still nearer Camden, in
the expectation that if Lord Rawdon did not
abandon that post as he had done that of
Clermont, his supplies would be cut off by
the bodies of militia which were expected to
pour forth from the upper counties, and he
would thus be compelled to a surrender.
On reaching the frontier of South Carolina,
Gates had issued a proclamation, inviting the
inhabitants to join his standard, and offering
an amnesty to such of them as, under the
pressure of circumstances, had promised alle
giance to the British government. Though
this proclamation had not been without effect,
it had not called forth the numbers upon
which the American general had been led to
calculate ; and, after the departure of Lieu-
AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
tenant-colonel Woodford's detachment, the ab
stract of the field-returns submitted to him
by his deputy adjutant-general indicated no
more -than between 4,000 or 5,000 men as
constituting his disposable force.
Gates, disappointed as he was by the scan
tiness of these returns, determined to perse
vere in his plan of offensive operations, and
marched about ten at night on the 15th of
August to within half a mile of Sander's
creek, about half way between his encamp
ment and Camden,
Lord Cornwallis, who the day before had
repaired to his head-quarters at Camden, and
had taken command of the British army, was
also resolved, though his forces amounted
only to 2,000 men, of whom 1,700 were in
fantry and 300 cavalry, to attack the enemy
in their camp, and advancing for that pur
pose, at half past two in the morning, en
countered their advanced parties near San
der's creek. Here some firing took place
with various success ; bat on the whole the
British had the advantage in this night ren
contre.
Early on the ensuing morning both armies
prepared for battle. On the side of the
Americans, the second Maryland brigade, un
der the command of General Gist, occupied
the right, which was flanked by a morass ;
the Virginia militia and the North Carolina
infantry, also covered by some boggy ground,.
204 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
were posted on the left, while General Cas-
well, with the North Carolina division and
the artillery, appeared in the centre. A corps
de reserve, under the orders of General Small-
wood, was posted about three hundred yards
in the rear of the American line.
In arranging the British forces, Lord Corn-
wallis delegated the command of the right to
Lieutenant-colonel Webster, who had at his
disposal the 23d and the 33d regiments of
foot. The left was guarded by some Irish
volunteers, the infantry of the legion, and
part of Lieutenant- colonel Hamilton's North
Carolina regiment, under the command of
Lord Rawdon. The cavalry of the legion
was stationed in the rear, where also the 71st
regiment was stationed as a reserve.
The respective armies being thus disposed,
the action began by the advance of 200 of
the British in front of the American artillery,
which received them with a steady fire.
Gates then commanded the Virginia militia
to advance under the command of Colonel
Stevens, who cheerfully obeyed the orders of
his commander-in-chief, and, when he had
led his men within firing distance, urged them
to charge the enemy with their bayonets.
This portion of the American army did not,
however, emulate the gallantry of their lead
er.
Lord Corn wallis, observing their movement,
gave orders to Lieutenant-colonel Webster to
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 205
attack them. The British infantry obeyed
his lordship's commands with a loud cheer.
The American militia, intimidated by this in
dication of determined daring, were panic-
struck, and the Virginians and the Carolini
ans threw down their arms and hastened
from the field. The right wing and the corps
de reserve, however, maintained their position,
and even gained ground upon the enemy;
but Lord Cornwallis, taking advantage of a
favorable moment, charged them with his
cavalry, and put them completely to the rout.
The victors captured the whole of the bag
gage and artillery of the Americans, who
were pursued by the British cavalry for the
space of twenty miles ; and so complete
was their discomfiture, that on the second
day after the engagement Gates could only
muster 150 of his fugitive soldiers at Charles
ton, a town in the south of North Carolina,
from whence he retreated still further north
to Salisbury, and thence to Hillsborough.
The sickliness of the season prevented Lord
Cornwallis from pursuing the broken remains
of the enemy's army ; but he employed the
leisure now afforded him in inflicting ven
geance on such of the inhabitants of South
Carolina as had been induced, by the pres
ence of Gates's army, to declare in his favor.
The militiamen who had joined the repub
lican standard, and had fallen into his hands
as prisoners, he doomed to the gallows. The
18
206 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
property of the fugitives, and of the declared
friends of independence, he confiscated. These
acts, though severe, were perhaps justifiable
by the strictness of the law. But neither in
law nor in honor could his lordship justify the
seizure of a number of the principal citizens
of Charleston, and most of the military offi
cers residing there under the faith of the late
capitulation, and sending them to St. Augus
tine.
Reduced to desperation by these injudicious
severities, the bold and active among the dis
affected formed themselves into independent
bands, under different chieftains, among whom
Marion and Sumpter were distinguished by
their spirit of enterprise. These harassed
the scattered parties of the British, several
of which they cut off; and by their move
ments the loyalists to the north of the Caro-
linas were kept in check. Eight of these
chieftains having united their forces, attacked
Major Ferguson, who had been sent to the
confines of the two provinces to assemble the
friends of the British government, and killed
or wounded 250 of his new levies, and took
800 prisoners, Ferguson himself being among
the slain. The American loss was about
twenty.
This success was followed by important
results : Lord Cornwallis had marched into
North Carolina in the direction of Salisbury ;
but when he heard of the defeat and death
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 207
of Ferguson, he retreated to Winnsborough
in the southern province, being severely har
assed in his retrograde movement by the mi
litia and the inhabitants ; and when he re
tired into winter-quarters Sumpter still kept
the field.
In the mean time General Gates had col
lected another army, with which he advanced
to Charlotte. Here he received intelligence
that Congress had resolved to supersede him
and to submit his conduct to a court of in
quiry. Mortified as he was by the ingrati
tude of his country, on the notification of this
resolve of the supreme power he dutifully
resigned his command. But on his way home
from Carolina, his feelings were soothed by
an address from the legislature of Virginia,
assuring him that " the remembrance of his"
former glorious services could not be obliter
ated by any reverse of fortune."
General Greene was now appointed to the
command of the southern army. Gates, on
receiving the intelligence, conducted with
true philosophy and gallantry. He redoubled
his efforts to improve the discipline and con
dition of the army, and on the arrival of
Greene, in December, received him with cor
diality and friendship.
208 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
SECTION XXXI.
ARRIVAL OF THE FRENCH AUXILIARIES UNDER RO-
CHAMBEAU, 10TH OF JULY, 1780.
While these events were occurring in the
southern states, General Washington was
obliged to confine himself to the irksome and
inglorious task of watching, from his encamp
ment at Morristown, the motions of the Brit
ish on New York island, and of restraining
their incursions into the adjacent country.
Though the army opposed to him was les
sened by the detachment which Sir Henry
Clinton led into South Carolina, his own forces
were proportionably weakened by the rein
forcements which it was necessary for him to
send to the American army in the same quar
ter ; and never did distress press more heavily
upon him.
The depreciation of the currency was at
that time so great, that four months' pay of a
private would not purchase a single bushel
of wheat. His camp was sometimes desti
tute of meat, and sometimes of bread. As
each state provided for its own quota of
troops, no uniformity could be established in
the distribution of provisions. This circum
stance aggravated the general discontent,
and a spirit of mutiny began to display itself
in two of the Connecticut regiments, which
AiMERICAN REVOLUTION. 209
were with difficulty restrained from forcing
their way home at the point of the bayonet.
Of these discontents the enemy endeavored
to take advantage, by circulating in the
American camp proclamations offering the
most tempting gratifications to such of the
continental troops as should desert the repub
lican colors and embrace the royal cause.
But these offers were unavailing ; mutinous
as they were, the malcontents abhorred the
thought of joining the enemies of their coun
try ; and on the seasonable arrival of a fresh
supply of provisions, they cheerfully returned
to their duty.
Soon after this, when General Knyphausen,
who commanded the British forces in the ab
sence of Sir Henry Clinton, made an irrup
tion into Jersey, on the 16th of June, the
whole American army marched out to oppose
him ; and though he was reinforced by Sir
Henry Clinton, who during this expedition
had arrived from Charleston, he was compel
led to measure back his steps. Both the ad
vance and retreat of the German were mark
ed by the devastation committed by his troops,
who burnt the town of Springfield, and most
of the houses on their line of march.
Alarmed by the representations made by
General Washington of the destitute condi
tion of his army, Congress sent three mem
bers of their body with instructions to inquire
, into the condition of their forces, and with
38*
210 AMERICAN REVOLUTION,
authority to reform abuses. These gentle
men fully verified the statements of the com-
mander-in-chief. No sooner was this fact
known in the city of Philadelphia, than a
subscription was set on foot for the relief of
the suffering soldiers, which soon amounted
to 300,000 dollar* Even the ladies of Phil
adelphia associated themselves for the pur
pose of administering to the necessities of the
army, and, after subscribing with generous
profusion from their own means, personally
solicited the aid of others with much success.
The above sum was intrusted to the dis
cretion of a well-chosen committee, who ap
propriated it to the purchase of provisions for
the troops. The three commissioners also
applied themselves diligently to the task of
recruiting and re-organizing the army. They
prescribed to each state the quota of forces
which it was to contribute towards the rais
ing of 35,000 men, their deficiency in regulars
being to be supplied by drafts from their re
spective militia.
The states of New England, Pennsylvania,
and Virginia, promptly listened to the call of
their country, and made extraordinary efforts
to furnish their several quotas of recruits.
The other members of the Union exerted
themselves to the best of their ability ; and
though the general result of these exertions
did not produce the number of troops which
"was deemed requisite for the public service,
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 211
more could not, in such circumstances, have
been well expected.
The Congress were the more earnest in
their wishes to put their army on a respecta
ble footing, as they were in expectation of
the arrival of a body of auxiliary forces from
France. This welcome aid appeared off
Rhode Island on the 10th of July, 1780, on
•which day, Monsieur Ternay sailed into the
harbor of Newport with a squadron of seven
sail of the line, five frigates, and five schoon
ers, convoying a fleet of transports, having on
board 6,000 men, under the command of the
Count de Rochambeau.
Admiral Arbuthnot, who had under his
command, at New York, only four sail of the
line, on hearing of the arrival of the French
at Rhode Island, was apprehensive of being
attacked by their superior force. But he was
soon relieved from his fears by the vigilance
of the British ministry, who, on the sailing of
the French fleet from Europe, had sent to his
assistance Admiral Graves, with six ships of
the line.
On receiving this reinforcement, he sailed
for Rhode Island, for the purpose of encoun
tering the French squadron, while Sir Henry
Clinton proceeded with 8,000 men to the
north of Long Island, for the purpose of land
ing on the opposite part of the continent, and
attacking their land forces. But the British
Admiral found the enemy's ships so well se-
212 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
cured by batteries and other land fortifica
tions, that he was obliged to content himself
with blocking them up in their harbor ; and
Clinton, receiving intelligence that General
Washington was preparing to take advantage
of his absence by making an attack upon
New York, hastened back to the relief of
that place.
SECTION XXXII.
TREASON OF ARNOLD, AND DEATH OF ANDRE,
Washington, on the retreat of General
Clinton, withdrew to West Point, an almost
impregnable position, situated about fifty
miles to the northward of New York, on the
Hudson river, by means of which he kept up
a communication between the eastern and
southern states ; and having occasion, to
wards the end of the month of September,
to go to Rhode Island to hold a conference
with the French admiral and Count Rocham-
beau, he left the command of this important
post to General Arnold, unconscious that in
so doing, he intrusted the fortunes of the in
fant republic to a traitor.
West Point was the most important post in
the possession of the Americans. It had ao
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 213
^ordirigly been fortified with great care and
expense, and was the repository of the most
valuable stores of the army; and at the time
of Arnold's defection, it was the resting point
upon which the fate of the American army
turned. Had it fallen into the hands of the
British, no sagacity nor courage could have
saved the wrhole army in the middle states
from being cut to pieces or captured in de
tail.
The possession of the states of New York
and New Jersey, the command of the great
channels of intercourse between the states, a
complete division of the remnants of the re
publican forces, and an efficient concentra
tion of those of Great Britain, must have
been the fruits of this treason, had it been
successful. What might have been the ef
fects upon the progress of the war it is diffi
cult to imagine. The blow would have been
disastrous. The value of the prize to the
British induced them to enter eagerly into
negotiation with the traitor, and offer a mu
nificent price for the treachery.
Arnold was brave and hardy, but dissipated
and profligate. Extravagant in his expenses,
he had involved himself in debts, and having
had, on frequent occasions, the administration
of considerable sums of the public money, Iris
accounts were so unsatisfactory, that he was
liable to an impeachment on charges of pec
ulation. Much had been forgiven indeed,
214 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
and more would probaby have been forgiven,
to his valor and military skill. But alarmed
by the terrors of a guilty conscience, he de
termined to get rid of pecuniary responsibility
by betraying his country ; and accordingly
entered into a negotiation with Sir Henry
Clinton, in which he engaged, when a proper
opportunity should present itself, to make
such a disposition of his troops as would en
able the British to make themselves masters
of West Point.
The details of this negotiation were con
ducted by Major Andre, the adjutant-general
of the British army, with whom Arnold car
ried on a clandestine correspondence, address
ing him under the name of Anderson, while
he himself assumed that of Gustavus. To
facilitate their communications, the Vulture
sloop of war was moved near to West Point ;
and the absence of Washington seeming to
present a fit opportunity for the final arrange
ment of their plans, on the night of the 21st
of September, Arnold sent a boat to the Vul
ture to bring Andre on shore.
That officer landed in his uniform between
the posts, of the two armies, and was met by
Arnold, with whom he held a conference
which lasted till daybreak, when it was too
late for him to return to the vessel. In this
extremity, unfortunately for himself, he al
lowed Arnold to conduct him within one of
the American posts, where he lay concealed
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 215
till the next night. In the mean time, the
Vulture, having been incommoded by an
American battery, had moved lower down
the river, and the boatmen now refused to
convey the stranger on board her.
Being cut off from this way of escape, An
dre was advised to make for New York by
land ; and, for this purpose, he was furnished
with a disguise, and a passport signed by
Arnold, designating him as John Anderson.
He had advanced in safety near the British
lines, when he was stopped by three New
York militiamen. Instead of showing his
pass to these scouts, he asked them " where
they belonged to ?" and, on their answering
" to below," meaning to New York, with sin
gular want of judgment, he stated that he
was a British officer, and begged them to let
him proceed without delay.
The men, now throwing off the mask,
seized him ; and, notwithstanding his offers
of a considerable bribe if they would release
him, they proceeded to search him, and found
upon his person, papers which gave fatal evi
dence of his own culpability and of Arnold's
treachery. These papers were in Arnold's
handwriting, and contained exact and de
tailed returns of the state of the forces, ord
nance, and defences of West Point and its
dependencies, with the artillery orders, criti
cal remarks on the works, an estimate of the
number of men that were ordinarily on duty
216 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
%
to man them, and the copy of a state of mat
ters that had, on the sixth of the month, been
laid before a council of war by the command-
er-in-chief.
When Andre was conducted by his captors
to the quarters of the commander of the
scouting parties, still assuming the name of
Anderson, he requested permission to write
to Arnold, to inform him of his detention.
This request was inconsiderately granted ;
and the traitor, being thus apprized of his
peril, instantly made his escape. At this mo
ment, Washington arriving at West Point,
was made acquainted with the whole affair.
Having taken the necessary precautions for
the security of his post, he referred the case
of the prisoner to a court-martial, consisting
of fourteen general officers.
Before this tribunal, Andre appeared with
steady composure of mind. He voluntarily
confessed all the facts of his case. Being
interrogated by the board with respect to his
conception of his coming on shore under the
sanction of a flag, he ingenuously replied,
that " if he had landed under that protection,
he might have returned under it." The court,
having taken all the circumstances of his
case into consideration, unanimously concur
red in opinion, " that he ought to be considered
as a spy ; and that, agreeably to the laws
and usages of nations, he ought to suffer
death."
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 217
Sir Henry Clinton, first by amicable nego
tiation, and afterwards by threats, endeavored
to induce the American commander to spare
the life of his friend ; but Washington did
not think this act of mercy compatible with
his duty to his country, and Andre was ordered
for execution. He had petitioned to be al
lowed to die a soldier's death ; but this re
quest could not be granted. Of this circum
stance, however, he was kept in ignorance,
till he saw the preparations for his final ca
tastrophe, when finding that the bitterness of
his destiny was not to be alleviated as he
wished, he exclaimed, "It is but a momen
tary pang I" and calmly submitted to his
fate.
Soon after this sad occurrence, Washing
ton, in writing to a friend, expressed himself
in the following terms : — " Andre has met his
fate, and with that fortitude which was to be
expected from an accomplished gentleman
and a gallant officer ; but I am mistaken if
Arnold is not undergoing, at this time, the
torments of a mental hell." Whatever might
be the feelings of the traitor, his treason had
its reward. He was immediately appointed
brigadier-general in the service of the king
of Great Britain ; and, on his promotion, he
had the folly and presumption to publish an
address, in which he avowed, that, being dis
satisfied with the alliance between the United
States and France, " he had retained his arms
19
218 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
and command for an opportunity to surrender
them to Great Britain."
This address was exceeded in meanness
and insolence by another, in which he invited
his late companions in arms to follow his ex
ample. The American soldiers read these
manifestoes with scorn; and so odious did the
character of a traitor, as exemplified in the
conduct of Arnold, become in their estimation,
that " desertion totally ceased among tkem at
this remarkable period of the war."*
Circumstances, however, took place soon
after the discovery of Arnold's treachery,
which led that renegade to entertain delusive
hopes that the army of Washington would
disband itself. The Pennsylvania!! troops
now serving on the Hudson, had been enlisted
on the ambiguous terms of " serving three
years, or during the continuance of the war."
As the three years from the date of their en
rolment were expired, they claimed their dis
charge, which was refused by their officers,
who maintained that the option of the two
above-mentioned conditions rested with the
state.
Wearied out with privations, and indignant
at what they deemed an attempt to impose
upon them, the soldiers flew to arms, deposed
their officers, and under the guidance of others
whom they elected in their place, they quitted
* Ramsay.
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 219
Morristown and marched to Princeton. Here
they were solicited by the most tempting of
fers on the part of some emissaries sent to
them by Sir Henry Clinton, to put themselves
under the protection of the British govern
ment. But they were so far from listening
to these overtures, that they arrested Sir
Henry's agents, and their grievances having
been redressed by the interposition of a com
mittee of Congress, they returned to their du
ty, and the British spies, having been tried
by a board of officers, were condemned to
death and executed.
A similar revolt of a small body of the
Jersey line was quelled by the capital pun
ishment of two of the ringleaders of the mu
tineers. The distresses which were the chief
cause of this misconduct of the American
soldiery, were principally occasioned by the
depreciation of the continental currency ;
which evil, at this period, effected its own
cure, as the depreciated paper was by com
mon consent, and without any act of the legis
lature, put out of use ; and by a seasonable
loan from France, and by the revival of trade
with the French and Spanish West Indies, its
place was speedily supplied by hard money.
The principal cause of delusion on the sub
ject in the mind of Arnold was the singular
fact, that Sergeant Champe, a high-minded
patriot, was induced to feign a desertion from
the army at West Point to join the British in
220 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
New York, and then to seize Arnold and de
liver him over to Washington for merited
punishment. No one save Lee, the com
manding officer at the post, and Washington
was admitted into the secret ; and of course
all others, Arnold and the patriots, looked up
on the affair as a sober reality.
The preliminaries were all adjusted in due
order. The hour named for the desertion,
eleven at night, arrived. The sergeant re
turned to the camp, and taking his cloak, va
lise, and orderly book, drew his horse from the
picket, and mounting him, put himself upon
a perilous adventure. The alarm was speed
ily given ; and within an hour or a little
more, an organized party was in full pursuit
of the supposed traitor. The chase was a
vigorous one. At last, he abandoned his
horse, cloak, and other equipments, and with
great exertions ran for the river, into which
he plunged, and then swam for the British
galleys.
His pursuers fired on him, but without ef
fect ; and he was received on board with
great exultation. Forthwith he was convey
ed to New York, where he was admitted to
the society and confidence of Arnold ; to
whom, for the purpose of accomplishing his
object, he made such representations, that
Arnold might have imagined the whole patriot
army was ready for desertion. Champe next
enlisted in the British service, carrying on,
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. s 221
however, at the same time, a secret corres
pondence with the American commanding
officer. The plan was matured for the res
toration of Arnold. The very night was fixed
on for its consummation, and not a doubt ex
isted it would have succeeded, had not Arnold,
on the very day previous, been ordered to a
different part of the city.
SECTION XXXIII.
CAMPAIGN OF 1781 DEFEAT OF GREENE, BY LORD
CORNWALLIS.
Though the Spaniards and the Dutch had
united with France in hostility against Brit
ain, she, with dauntless spirit, everywhere
made head against her foreign enemies ; and
his majesty's ministers were now, still more
than ever, determined, by an extension of
combined measures, to reduce the North
American provinces to submission. The plan
of the campaign of 1781, accordingly, com
prehended active operations in the stafe.s of
New York, Georgia, South Carolina, and Vir
ginia. The invasion of the last-mentioned
province was intrusted to Arnold, who, taking
with him a force of about 1,600 men, and a
number of armed vessels, sailed up the Ches
apeake, spreading terror and devastation
wherever he came.
222 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
An attempt to intercept him was made by
the French fleet, which sailed from Rhode
Island for that purpose ; but after an indeci
sive engagement with the squadron of Admi
ral Arbuthnot, off the capes of Virginia, was
obliged to return to Newport, leaving the in
vaded province open to the incursions of the
British, who, making occasional advances in
to the country, destroyed an immense quantity
of public stores, and enriched themselves with
an extensive plunder of private property, at
the same time burning all the shipping in the
Chesapeake and its tributary streams, which
they could not conveniently carry away as
prizes.
The Carolinas also suffered severely by the
scourge of war. When Gates was superseded
in the command of the American forces in
that district, he was succeeded by General
Greene, to whose charge he transferred the
poor remains of his army, which were col
lected at Charlotte, in North Carolina, and
which amounted only to 2,000 men. These
troops were imperfectly armed and badly
clothed ; and such was the poverty of their
military chest, that they were obliged to sup
ply themselves with provisions by forced re
quisitions made upon the inhabitants of the
adjacent country.
In these circumstances, to encounter the
superior numbers of the enemy in pitched
battle would have been madness. Greene,
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 223
therefore, resolved to carry on the war as a
partisan officer, and to avail himself of every
opportunity of harassing the British, in detail.
The first enterprise which he undertook in
prosecution of this system was eminently suc
cessful. Understanding that the inhabitants
of the district of Ninety-six, who had submit
ted to the royal authority, \vere severely ha
rassed by the licensed acts of plunder com
mitted by the king's troops and the loyalists,
he sent General Morgan into that quarter
with a small detachment, which was, on its
arrival, speedily increased by the oppressed
countrymen, who were burning for revenge.
Lord Cornwallis, who was, at this moment,
on the point of invading North Carolina, no
sooner heard of this movement, than he sent
Lieutenant-colonel Tarleton with 1,100 men,
to drive Morgan out of the district. Tarleton
was an excellent partisan officer, and had
gained great reputation by his superior activ
ity, and by his success in various rencoun
ters with detached parties of the republican
troops.
This success, however, and the superiority
of his numbers to those of Morgan's forces,
caused him too much to despise the enemy.
In pursuance of Lord Cornwallis's orders, he
marched in quest of his antagonist, and, on
the evening of the 16th of January, 1781, he
arrived at the ground which General Morgan,
had quitted but a few hours before. At two
224 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
o'clock the next morning he recommenced his
pursuit of the enemy, marching with extra
ordinary rapidity through a very difficult
country, and at daylight he discovered the
enemy in his front. From the intelligence
obtained from prisoners who were taken by
his scouting parties, he learned that Morgan
awaited his attack at a place called the Cow-
pens, near Pacolet river.
Here the American commander had drawn
up his little army, two thirds of which con
sisted of militia, in two lines, the first of
"which was advanced about two hundred yards
before the second, with orders to form on the
right of the second in case the onset of the
enemy should oblige them to retire. The rear
was closed by a small body of regular caval
ry, and about forty-five mounted militiamen.
On the sight of this array, Tarleton ordered
his troops to form in line. But before this
arrangement was effected, that officer, obey
ing the dictates of valor rather than those of
prudence, commenced the attack, heading his
squadron in person. The British advanced
with a shout, and assailed the enemy with a
well-directed discharge of musketry. The
Americans reserved their fire till the British
"were witkin forty or fifty yards of their ranks,
and then poured among them a volley which
did- considerable execution.
The British, however, undauntedly pushed
on and swept the militia off the field. They
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 225
then assailed the second line, and compelled
it to fall back on the cavalry. Here the
Americans rallied, and renewed the fight with
desperate valor : charging the enemy with
fixed bayonets, they drove back the advance,
and following up their success, overthrew the
masses of their opponents as they presented
themselves in succession, and finally won a
complete and decisive victory.
Tarleton fled from the bloody field, leaving
his artillery and baggage in the possession of
the enemy. His loss amounted to 300 killed
and wounded, and 500 prisoners, while that
of the Americans was only 12 killed and 60
wounded. Immediately after the action, Gen
eral Greene sent off his prisoners, under a
proper guard, in the direction of Virginia ;
and as soon as he had made the requisite ar
rangements, he followed them with his little
army.
On receiving intelligence of Tarleton's dis
aster, Lord Cornwallis hastened in pursuit of
the retreating enemy, and forced his marches
with such effect, that he reached the Catawba
river on the evening of the day on which
Morgan had crossed it; but here his progress
was for a short while impeded, as a heavy
fall of rain had rendered the stream impassa
ble. When the waters subsided, he hurried
on, hoping to overtake the fugitives before
they had passed the Yadkin ; but when he
had arrived at the river, he found to his mor-
226 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
tification that they had crossed it, and had
secured the craft and boats which they had
used for that purpose on the eastern bank.
He therefore marched higher up the stream,
till he found the river fordable. While he
was employed in this circuitous movement,
General Greene had united his forces with
those of Morgan, at Guildford Court-house.
Still, however, the forces of the American
commander were so inferior to those of his
pursuers, that, not daring to risk an engage
ment, he hastened straight onwards to the
river Dan ; while Lord Cornwallis, travers
ing the upper country, where the streams are
fordable, proceeded, in the hope that he might
gain upon the enemy, so as to overtake them,
in consequence of their being obstructed in
their progress by the deep water below. But
.so active was Greene, and so fortunate in
finding the means of conveyance, that he .
crossed the Dan into Virginia, with his whole
army, artillery, and baggage. So narrow,
hDwever, was his escape, that the van of
Cornwallis's army arrived in time to witness
the ferrying over of his rear.
Mortified as Lord Cornwallis was by being
thus disappointed of the fruits of this toilsome
march, he consoled himself by the reflection
that the American army being thus driven
out of North Carolina, he was master of that
province, and was in a condition to recruit
hi? forces by the accession of the loyalists,
AMERICAN REVOLUTION". 22T
with whom he had been led to believe that it
abounded.
He therefore summoned all true subjects
of his majesty to repair to the royal standard,
which he had erected at Hillsborough. This
experiment had little success. The friends of
government were in general timid, and diffi
dent of his lordship's power ultimately to pro
tect them. Their terrors were confirmed,
when they learned that the indefatigable
Greene had recrossed the Dan, and had cut
off a body of Tories who were on their march
to join the royal forces, and that he had com
pelled Tarleton to retreat from the frontier
of the province to Hillsborough. For seven
days, the American commander manoeuvred
within ten miles of the British camp ; and at
the end of that time, having received rein
forcements from Virginia, he resolved to give
Lord Cornwallis battle.
The engagement took place on the 15th of
March, at Guildford. The American army
consisted of 4,400 men, and the British of
oniy 2,400 ; but notwithstanding this disparity
of numbers, disciplined valor prevailed. The
American militia gave way with precipita
tion, and though the regulars fought with
spirit, they were obliged to retreat, but only
to the distance of three miles. Lord Corn
wallis kept the field, but he had suffered such
loss in the action, that he was unable to fol
low up his victory, and soon afterwards
228 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
marched towards Wilmington, leaving behind
him his sick and wounded. On this march
he was pursued by Greene as far as Deep
river.
SECTION XXXIV.
CAMPAIGN OF 1781 CONTINUED DEFEAT OF LORD
RAWDON, BY GENERAL GREENE.
At Wilmington, Lord Cornwallis made a
halt for three days for the purpose of giving
his troops some rest ; and at the end of that
time, resolving to carry the war into Virgi
nia, he marched to Petersburgh, an inland
town of that province, situated on James
river. Hither it was expected that he would
have been followed by the enemy ; but Greene
being aware that his lordship had by this
movement approached nearer to the main
army of the Americans, and confident that
his motions would be closely watched by the
Virginia militia, after mature consideration
adopted the bold measure of again penetrating
into South Carolina.
That province was in the military occupa
tion of the British, who were, indeed, harassed
by the partisan troops of Marion and Sumpter,
but were in such apparent strength, that there
was reason to fear that the republicans, if not
aided by further support* would abandon the
AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
cause of their country in despair. The Brit
ish had formed chains of posts, which, extend
ing from the sea to the western extremity of
the province, maintained a mutual communi
cation by strong patrols and bodies of horse.
The first of these lines of defence was estab
lished on the Wateree, on the banks of which
river the British occupied the well-fortified
town of Camden, and Fort Watson, situated
between that place and Charleston.
The attack of the fort, Greene intrusted to
Marion, who soon compelled its garrison to
surrender on capitulation. In encountering
Lard Rawdon, near Camden, Greene was not
so fortunate. In consequence of the unsteadi
ness of a few of his troops, he was defeated,
but moved off the ground in such good oder,
that he saved his artillery, and though wound
ed, he took up a position, at the distance of
about five miles from Camden, from which
he sent out parties to intercept the supplies,
of which he was apprized that his antagonist
was in the utmost need.
In consequence of the vigilance of Greene,
in cutting off his resources, and of the loss of
Fort Watson, which had been the link of his
communication with Charleston, Lord Raw
don, after having in vain endeavored to bring
on a second general engagement with the
Americans, was reduced to the necessity of
destroying a part of his baggage, and retreating
to the south side of the river Santee. This ret*
30
230 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
rograde movement encouraged the friends of
Congress to resume their arms, and hasten to
reinforce the corps of Marion, who speedily
made himself master of the British posts on
the Congaree, the garrisons of which were in
general made prisoners, while those which
escaped that fate by a timely evacuation of
their positions, made good their retreat to the
capital of the province.
Savannah river now presented the last line
of defence held by the British, who there pos
sessed the town of Augusta and the post of
Ninety-six. The former of those places was
attacked by Lieutenant-colonel Lee, and after
a defence of unprecedented obstinacy on the
part of its commander, Colonel Brown, it sur
rendered on honorable terms. The important
post of Ninety-six, commanded by Lieutenant-
colonel Cruger, was strongly fortified, and de
fended by 500 men.
On reconnoitering the place, General Greene,
whose army was not much more numerous
than the garrison, determined to besiege it in
form. He accordingly broke ground on the
25th of May, and pushed his works with such
vigor, that he had approached within six yards
of the ditch, and had erected a mound thirty
feet high, from which his riflemen poured their
shot with fatal aim upon the opposite parapet
of the enemy, who were hourly expected to
beat a parley. But this bright prospect of
success was at once overclouded by the arri-
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 231
val of intelligence that Lord Rawdon, having
received reinforcements from Ireland, was
hastening to the relief of his countrymen, at
the head of 2,000 men.
In this extremity, Greene made a desperate
effort to carry the place by assault, but was
repulsed, and evacuating the works which he
had constructed with so much labor, he re
treated to the northward across the Saluda,
from whence he was chased by Lord Rawdon
beyond the Ennoree.
The feelings of the American commander
on set-ing the fruit of his toils thus suddenly
and unexpectedly torn from his grasp, must
have been of a most agonizing nature. But
Greene was gifted with an elasticity of spirit
which prevented him from yielding to the
pressure of misfortune, and his opponents
seldom found him more dangerous than im
mediately after suffering a defeat. On the
present occasion, when some of his counsel
lors, in the moment of despondency, advised
him to retreat into Virginia, he firmly replied,
that " he would save South Carolina, or perish
in the attempt."
Go maturely deliberating on the object of
the campaign, and on the relative situation
of himself and the enemy, he was well aware
that though Lord Rawdon was superior to
him in the number as well as the discipline
of his troops ; yet, if his lordship kept his ar
my concentrated, he could afford no encour-
232 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
agement, or even protection, to the royalists,
and that if it were divided, it might be beaten
in detail. As he expected, the British com
mander, finding that he could not bring him
to an engagement, took the latter course, and
withdrawing a detachment from Ninety-six,
re-established himself on the line of the Con-
garee.
Within two days, however, after his arrival
at the banks of that river, he was astonished
to find his indefatigable enemy in his front,
with numbers so recruited, that he thought it
prudent to decline the battle which was offer
ed him, and retreated to Orangeburgh, where
he was joined by Lieutenant-colonel Cruger,
who, in the present circumstances, had thought
it expedient to evacuate his post at Ninety-
six. On the junction of the forces of these
two commanders, Greene retired to the heights
above Santee, from whence he sent his active
coadjutors, Marion and Sumpter, with strong
scouting parties, to interrupt the commu
nication between Orangeburgh and Charles
ton.
As a last effort to maintain their influence
in the centre of the province, the British took
post in force near the confluence of the Wa-
teree and the Congaree ; but on the approach
of Greene, they retreated for the space of
forty miles, and waited his threatened attack
at the Eutaw Springs. Here an obstinate
^engagement took place, in which the British
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 233
were defeated with the loss of 1,100 men,
and were compelled to abandon the province
to the republicans, and take shelter in Charles
ton.
Of all the incidents of the American revo
lutionary war, the most brilliant is this cam
paign of General Greene. At the head of a
beaten army, undisciplined, and badly equip
ped, he entered the province of South Caro
lina, which was occupied, from its eastern to
its western extremity, by an enemy much su
perior to him in numbers, in appointments,
and in military experience. But by his genius,
his courage, and his perseverance, he broke
through their lines of operation, drove them
from post to post, and though defeated in the
field, he did not cease to harass them in de
tail, till he had driven them within the fortifi
cations of the capital. Well did he merit the
gold medal and the British standard bestowed
upon him by a vote of Congress, for his ser
vices on this occasion. By his successes he
revived the drooping spirits of the friends of
independence in the southern states, and pre
pared the way for the final victories which
awaited the arms of his country in Virginia,
and which led to the happy termination of
the war.
While the American commander was en
joying the honors bestowed upon him by his
grateful countrymen, as the just meed of his
valor and skill in arms, Lord Rawdon, soon
20
234 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
after his return to Charleston, by an example
of severity, brought odium on the British
cause, and fired the breasts of the continen
tals with indignation. Among the American
officers, who distinguished themselves in the
defence of South Carolina, was Col. Haynes,
a gentleman of fortune, and of considerable
influence in his neighborhood.
After the capitulation of Charleston, Haynes
voluntarily surrendered himself to the British
authorities, requesting to be allowed his per
sonal liberty on his parole. This indulgence,
usually granted to officers of rank, he could
not obtain ; and was told that he must either
take the oath of allegiance to his Britannic
majesty, or submit to close confinement. In
an evil hour, induced by family considera
tions, he chose the former alternative, and
signed a declaration of fealty to George III.,
protesting, however, against the clause which
required him to support the royal government
with arms ; which clause, the officer who re
ceived his submission assured him it was not
intended to enforce. The officer in question,
no doubt in this assurance exceeded his au
thority, and Haynes was time after time sum
moned to join the royal standard.
Regarding this as a breach of the contract
into which he had entered with the British, he
again took up arms on the side of indepen
dence, and having been taken prisoner in a
skirmish with part of the royal forces, he
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 235
was, without the formality of a trial, ordered
for execution by Lord Rawdon. To the peti
tions of this unfortunate officer's children, as
well as those of the inhabitants of Charles
ton, his lordship turned a deaf ear, and Haynes
suffered death as a rebel and a traitor.
Though the death of this gallant soldier may
be vindicated by the strictness of the law, its
policy was, in the existing circumstances, ex
tremely questionable.
SECTION XXXV.
FURTHER EVENTS OF THE CAMPAIGN PREPARATIONS
FOR THE SIEGE OF NEW YORK.
It has already been related that, after de
feating General Greene at Guildford, Lord
Cornwallis marched to Petersburgh, in Vir
ginia. His lordship did not take this step
without hesitation. He well knew the enter
prising character of his opponent, and was
aware of the probability of his making an
incursion into South Carolina. He flattered
himself, however, that the forces which he
had left in that province, under the command
of Lord Rawdon, would suffice to keep the
enemy in check. In this idea he was con
firmed by the result of the battle of Camden,
and by the receipt of intelligence that three
-236 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
British regiments, which had sailed from Cork,
might be expected speedily to arrive at
Charleston.
No longer anxious, therefore, for the fate
of South Carolina, he determined to march
forward, in the confident hope of increasing
his military renown by the conquest of Vir
ginia. He accordingly advanced with rapid
ity from Petersburgh to Manchester, on James
river, with a view of crossing over from that
place to Richmond, for the purpose of seizing
a large quantity of stores and provisions,
which had been deposited there by the Ameri
cans. But on his arrival at Manchester, he
had the mortification to find that, on the day
before, this depot had been removed by the
Marquis de Lafayette, who, at the command
of Congress, had hastened from the head of
Elk to oppose him.
Having crossed James river, at Westown,
his lordship marched through Hanover coun
ty to the South Anna river, followed at a
guarded distance by the marquis, who, in this
critical contingency, finding his forces inferior
to those of the cciemy, wisely restrained the
vivacity which is the usual characteristic of
his age and country. But having effected a
junction with General Wayne, which brought
his numbers nearly to an equality with those
of the British, and having once more, by a
skilful manoeuvre, saved his stores, which had
been removed to Albemarle old court-house,
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 237
he displayed so bold a front, that the British
commander fell back to Richmond, and thence
to Williamsburg.
On his arrival at the latter place, Lord
Cornwallis received dispatches from Sir Hen
ry Clinton, requiring him instantly to send
from his army a detachment to the relief of
New York, which was threatened with a
combined attack by the French and the
Americans. The consequent diminution of
his force induced his lordship to cross James
river, and to march in the direction of Ports
mouth. Before, however, the reinforcements
destined for New York had sailed, he received
counter-orders and instructions from Sir Hen
ry Clinton, in pursuance of which he convey
ed his army, amounting to 7,000 men, to York-
town, which place he proceeded to fortify with
the utmost skill and industry.
The object of Lord Cornwallis in thus post
ing himself at Yorktown, was to co-operate
in the subjugation of Virginia with a fleet
which he was led to expect would about this
time proceed from the West Indies to the
Chesapeake. While his lordship was anx
iously looking out for the British pennants, he
had the mortification, on the 30th of August,
to see the Count de Grasse sailing up the bay
with twenty-eight sail of the line, three of
which, accompanied by a proper number of
frigates, were immediately dispatched to block
up York river.
238 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
The French vessels had no sooner anchor
ed, than they landed a force of 3,200 men,
who, under the command of the Marquis de
St. Simon, effected a junction with the army
of Lafayette, and took post at Williamsburg.
Soon after this operation, the hopes of the
British were revived by the appearance off
the Capes of Virginia, of Admiral Graves,
with twenty sail of the line — a force which
seemed to be competent to extricate Lord
Cornwallis from his difficult position.
These hopes, however, proved delusive.
On the 7th of September, M. de Grasse en
countered the British fleet, and a distant fight
took place, in which the French seemed to
rely more on their manoeuvring than on their
valor. The reason of this was soon apparent.
In the course of the night which followed the
action, a squadron of eight line-of-battle ships
safely passed the British, and joined De Grasse,
in consequence of which accession of strength
to the enemy, Admiral Graves thought it pru
dent to quit that part of the coast, and retire
to New York. This impediment to their op
erations having been removed, the Americans
and French directed the whole of their united
efforts to the capture of Yorktown.
This had not, however, been the original
design of General Washington at the com
mencement of the campaign. Early in the
spring he had agreed with Count Rocham-
beau to lay siege to New York, in concert
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 239
with a French fleet which was expected to
reach the neighborhood of Staten Island in
the month of August. He had accordingly
issued orders for considerable reinforcements,
especially of militia, to join his army in proper
time to commence the projected operations.
The French troops under Rochambeau
having arrived punctually at his encampment
near Peekskill, General Washington advanced
to King's bridge, and hemmed in the British
in New York island. Every preparation
seemed to be now in forwardness for the
commencement of the siege ; but the militia
came in tardily. The adjacent states were
dilatory in sending in their quotas of troops ;
and while he was impatiently awaiting their
arrival, Washington had the mortification to
receive intelligence that Clinton had received
a reinforcement of 3,000 Germans.
While his mind was agitated by disappoint
ment, and chagrined by that want of zeal on
the part of the middle states which he ap
prehended could not but bring discredit on
his country, in the estimation of his allies, he
was relieved from his distress by the news of
the success of Greene in driving Lord Corn-
wallis into Yorktown ; and at the same time
learning that the destination of Count de
Grasse was the Chesapeake, and not Staten
Island, he resolved to transfer his operations
to the state of Virginia.
Still, however, he kept up an appearance
240 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
of persevering in his original intention of
making an attack upon New York, and in
this feint he was aided by the circumstance,
that when this was in reality his design, a
letter, in which he had detailed his plans for
its prosecution, had been intercepted, and
read by Sir Henry Clinton. When, therefore,
in the latter end of August, he broke up his
encampment at Peekskill, and directed his
march to the south, the British commander,
imagining that this movement was only a
stratagem calculated to throw him off his
guard, and that the enemy would speedily re
turn to take advantage of his expected neg
ligence, remained in his quarters, and re
doubled his exertions to strengthen his position.
In consequence of this error, he lost the
opportunity of impeding the march of the
allied army, and of availing himself of the
occasions which might have presented them
selves of bringing it to action before it could
effect a junction with the troops already as
sembled in the vicinity of Yorktown. Thus
marching onwards without molestation, Gen
eral Washington reached Williamsburg on
the 14th of September, and immediately on
his arrival, visiting the Count de Grasse on
board his flag-ship, the Ville de Paris, settled
with him the plan of their future operations.
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 241
SECTION XXXVI.
SIEGE OF YORKTOWN, SURRENDER OF LORD CORN-
WALLIS.
In pursuance of this arrangement, the com
bined forces, to the amount of 12,000 men,
assembled at Williamsburg on the 25th of
September ; and on the 30th of the same
month marched forward to invest Yorktown,
while the French fleet, moving to the mouth
of York river, cut off Lord Cornwallis from
any communication with a friendly force by
water. His lordship's garrison amounted to
7,000 men, and the place was strongly forti
fied. On the right it was secured by a marshy
ravine, extending to such a distance along
the front of the defences as to leave them ac
cessible only to the extent of about 1,500
yards.
This space was defended by strong lines,
beyond which, on the extreme left, were ad
vanced a redoubt and a bastion, which enfi
laded their approach to Gloucester Point, on
the other side of York river, the channel of
which is here narrowed to the breadth of a
mile, which post was also sufficiently gar
risoned, and strongly fortified. Thus secured
in his position, Lord Cornwallis beheld the
approach of the enemy with firmness, espe
cially as he had received dispatches from Sir
242 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
Henry Clinton, announcing his intention of
sending 5,000 men in a fleet of 23 ships of the
line to his relief.
The allied forces on their arrival from
Williamsburg immediately commenced the
investure both of Yorktown and of Glouces
ter Point ; and on the 10th of October they
opened their batteries with such effect, that
their shells, flying over the town, reached the
shipping in the harbor, and set fire to the
Charon frigate, and to a transport. On this
inauspicious day, too, Lord Cornwallis re
ceived a communication from Sir Henry
Clinton, conveying to him the unwelcome in
telligence that he doubted whether it would
be in his power to send him the aid which he
had promised.
On the following morning the enemy com
menced their second parallel, and finding
themselves, in this advanced position, severe
ly annoyed by the bastion and redoubt which
have been mentioned above, they resolved to
storm them. The reduction of the former of
these works was committed to the French,
while the attack of the latter was intrusted
to the Americans. Both parties rushing to
the assault with the spirit of emulation which
this arrangement was calculated to inspire,
the works in question were speedily carried
at the point of the bayonet.
It must be mentioned to the honor of the
American soldiers, that though in revenge for
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 243
-a massacre recently committed at New Lon
don, in Connecticut, by a body of troops un
der the command of the renegade Arnold,
they had been ordered to take no prisoners,
they forebore to comply with this requisition,
and when they had penetrated into the re
doubt, spared every man who ceased to resist.
On the 16th of October, a sally was made
from the garrison, but with indifferent suc
cess ; and Lord Cornwallis was now convin
ced that he could avoid surrender, only by ef
fecting his escape by Gloucester Point.
Seeing himself, therefore, reduced to the
necessity of trying this desperate expedient,
he prepared as many boats as he could pro
cure, and on the night of the 16th of October
attempted to convey his army over York
river to the opposite promontory. But the
elements were adverse to his .operations.
The first division of his troops was disem
barked in safety ; but when the second was
on its passage, a storm of wind and rain arose,
and drove it down the river.
Though this second embarkation worked
Its way back to Yorktown on the morning of
the 17th, Lord Cornwallis was convinced,
however unwillingly, that protracted resist
ance was vain. No aid appeared from New
York — his works were ruined — the fire from
.the enemy's batteries swept the town ; and
sickness had diminished the effective force of
the garrison. In these painful circumstances,
244 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
nothing remained for him but to negotiate
terms of capitulation. He accordingly sent
a flag of truce, and having agreed to give up
his troops as prisoners of war to Congress,
and the naval force to France, he, on the 19th
of October, marched out of his lines with
folded colors ; and proceeding to a field at a
short distance from the town, he surrendered
to General Lincoln, with the same formalities
which had been prescribed to that officer at
Charleston, eighteen months before.
Another coincidence was remarked on this
occasion. The capitulation under which Lord
Cornwallis surrendered was drawn up by
Lieutenant-colonel Laurens, whose father had
filled the office of President of Congress, and
having been taken prisoner when on his voy
age to Holland, in quality of ambassador from
the United States to the Dutch republic, had
been consigned, under a charge of high trea
son, to a rigorous custody in the Tower of
London, of which fortress his lordship was
constable.
Had Lord Cornwallis been able to hold out
five days longer than he did, he might possi
bly have been relieved ; for, on the ^4th of
October, a British fleet, conveying an army
of 7,000 men, arrived off the Chesapeake ;
but finding that his lordship had already sur
rendered, this armament returned to New
York and Sandy Hook.
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 245
SECTION XXXVII.
PROVISIONAL TREATY OF PEACE, 30TII OF NOVEM
BER, 1782.
It was with reason that the Congress passed
a vote of thanks to the captors of Yorktown,
and that they went in procession, on the 24th
of October, to celebrate the triumph of their
arms, by expressing, in the solemnities of a
religious service, their gratitude to Almighty
God for this signal success. The surrender
of Lord Cornwallis was the virtual termina
tion of the war. From this time forward, to
the signature of the treaty of peace, the Brit
ish were cooped up in New York, Charleston,
and Savannah. From these posts they now
and then, indeed, made excursions for the
purpose of foraging and plunder ; but being
utterly unable to appear in force in the inte
rior of the country, they found themselves in
competent to carry on any operations calcu
lated to promote the main object of the war —
the subjugation of the United States.
Perseverance, however, still seemed a vir
tue to the British cabinet. Immediately after
the arrival of the intelligence of the capture
by the Americans of a second British army,
George III. declared, in a speech to parlia
ment, " that he should not answer the trust
committed to the sovereign of a free people,
21*
246 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
if he consented to sacrifice, either to his own
desire of peace, or to their temporary ease
and relief, those essential rights and perma
nent interests, upon the maintenance and
preservation of which the future strength and
security of the country must forever depend."
When called upon in the House of Com
mons for an explanation of this vague and
assuming language, Lord North avowed that
it was the intention of ministers to carry on
in North America " a war of posts ;" and such
was, at that moment,* the state of the house,
that, in despite of the eloquence of Mr. Fox,
who labored to demonstrate the absurdity of
this new plan, a majority of 218 to 129 con
curred in an address which was an echo of
his majesty's speech.
But the loud murmurs of the people, groan
ing beneath the weight of taxation, and indig
nant under a sense of national misrule, at
length penetrated the walls of the senate-
house. Early in the year 1782, motion after
motion was made in the House of Commons,
expressive of the general wish for the termi
nation of hostilities with the United States.
The minister held out with obstinacy, though
on each renewal of the debate, he saw his
majority diminish ; till at length, on the 27th
of February, on a motion of General Con way,
expressly directed against the further prose-
* Nov. 27, 1781.
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 247
cution of offensive war on the continent of
North America, he was left in a minority of
nineteen.
This victory was followed up by an address
from the house to his majesty, according to
the tenor of General Con way's motion. To
this address, so equivocal an answer was re
turned by the crown, that the friends of paci
fication deemed it necessary to speak in still
plainer terms ; and on the 4th of March, the
House of Commons declared that whosoever
should advise his majesty to any further pro
secution of offensive war against the colonies
of North America, should be considered as a
public enemy.
This was the death-blow to Lord North's
administration. His lordship retired from
office early in the month of March, and was
.succeeded by the Marquis of Rockingham,
the efforts of whose ministry were as much
and as cordially directed to peace as those of
Lord Shelburne's. On the death of the mar
quis, which took place soon after he had as
sumed the reins of government, the Earl of
Shelburne was called on to preside over his
majesty's councils, which, under his auspices,
were directed to the great object of pacifica
tion. To this all the parties interested were
well inclined. The English nation was weary
of a civil war in which it had sustained so
many discomfitures. The king of France,
who had reluctantly consented to aid the in-
248 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
fant republic of North America, was mortified
by the destruction of the fleet of De Grasse, in
the West Indies, and found the expenses of
the war press heavily on his finances. The
Spaniards were disheartened by the failure
of their efforts to repossess themselves of Gib
raltar ; and the Dutch were impatient under
the suspension of their commerce.
Such being the feelings of the belligerents,
the negotiations for a peace between Great
Britain and the United States were opened
at Paris, by Mr. Fitzherbert and Mr. Oswald
on the part of the former power, and by John
Adams, Doctor Franklin, John Jay, and Henry
Laurens, on behalf of the latter. These ne
gotiations terminated in provisional articles
of peace, which were signed on the 30th of
November, 1782. By this important instru
ment, the independence of the thirteen prov
inces was unreservedly acknowledged by his
Britannic majesty, who moreover conceded to
them an unlimited right of fishing on the
Banks of Newfoundland and the river St.
Lawrence, and all other places where they
had been accustomed to fish. All that the
British plenipotentiaries could obtain for the
American loyalists was, a provision that Con
gress should earnestly recommend to the
legislatures of the respective states the most
lenient consideration of their case, and a res
titution of their confiscated property.
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 249
SECTION XXXVIII.
CONCLUSION.
Thus terminated the American revolution
ary war — a war which might have been pre
vented by the timely concession of freedom
from internal taxation, as imposed by the
British parliament, and by an abstinence on
the part of the British government from a
violation in this important particular of char
tered rights. The confidential letters of Dr.
Franklin evince that it was with extreme re
luctance the American patriots adopted the
measure of severing the colonies from the
mother country. But when they had taken
this decisive step, by the declaration of inde
pendence, they firmly resolved to abide by
the consequences of their own act ; and, with
the single exception of Georgia, never, even
in the most distressful contingencies of the
war, did any public body of the provinces
show any disposition to resume their allegi
ance to the king of Great Britain.
Still, it may be a matter of doubt if, when we
consider the conduct of the inhabitants of the
Jerseys, when Washington was flying before
General Howe, whether, had the British officers
restrained their troops with the strictness of
discipline, and exercised towards the Ameri
cans the kind spirit evinced in Canada by
250 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
Sir Guy Carleton, the fervor oi resistance
might not have been abated and subdued.
But civil wars are always conducted with
cruelty and rancor. The Americans were
treated by the British soldiery, not as enemies
entitled to the courtesies of war, but as rebels,
whose lives and property lay at the mercy of
the victors. Hence devastation marked the
track of the invading forces, while the inhab
itants found their truest safety in resistance,
and their best shelter in the republican camp.
Nor will he -who reads with attention the
minute details of this eventful contest, be sur
prised that the British ministry persevered in
the war when success might have appeared
to be hopeless. It is now well known that
George III. revolted from the idea of conces
sion to his disobedient subjects, and was de
termined to put all to the hazard rather than
acknowledge their independence. Lord North,
at an early period of the war, had misgivings
as to its ultimate success, but he had not firm
ness enough to give his sovereign unwelcome
advice ; while Lord George Germaine and the
other ministers fully sympathized with the
royal feelings, and entered heartily into the
views of their master.
They were apprised, from time to time, of
the destitute condition of the American army,
but living as they did in luxury, and familiar
ized as they were with the selfishness and
venality of courts and political parties, they
AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 251
could not conceive the idea of men sacrificing
health, property, and life, for their country's
good. When Washington was beaten in the
field, such men imagined that the affairs of
the Congress were desperate, and flattered
themselves that the great body of the colonists,
wearied and disheartened by successive de
feats, would be glad to accept the royal mer
cy, and to return to their allegiance.
In these notions they were confirmed by the
loyalists, who, giving utterance to their wishes,
rather than stating the truth, afforded the
most incorrect representations of the feelings
and temper of their countrymen. Some of
these coming over to England were received
with favor in high circles, and by their insin
uations kept up to the last a fatal delusion.
These individuals at length fell the victims of
their own error. Traitors to their country,
they lost their property by acts of confiscation,
and while they lived on the bounty of the
British crown, they had the mortification to
see the country which they had deserted, rise
to an exalted rank among the nations of the
earth.
It must also be admitted that the people of
England sympathized with their government
up to a late period, in the feelings which
prompted perseverance in this iniquitous war.
Excessive loyalty to the crown ; a certain
undefined appetite for military achievements ;
resentment against the Americans for ques-
252 AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
tioning British supremacy, strongly impressed
the public mind, and rendered the war dis
gracefully popular in many quarters. Such
sentiments were fostered and encouraged by
the accession of France, Spain, and Holland
to the cause of her revolted states, and the
prospect of naval victories. We may reason
ably indulge the hope that the lesson then,
.and during the French revolutionary war,
taught by experience, and the subsequent
improvement of the public mind, will prevent
it from ever again joining its government in
such a conspiracy against freedom and justice.
When the ministers of the king of France
incited their master to enter into an alliance
with the revolted colonies, they did so under
the idea that the separation of those provin
ces from the parent state would ruin the re
sources of Great Britain. Events have proved
how erroneous was their calculation. From
her commercial intercourse with independent
America, Great Britain has derived more
profit than she could have gained had her
growth been stunted by the operation of re
strictive laws.
THE END.
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